Coalition building and public opinion - New reproductive technologies and Canadian civil society

The process of technology assessment is evolving, The process of policy dev elopment for technology is the least understood in the cycle of technology assessment. The process of policy development, which should involve extensi ve consultation and a broad-based research and evaluation program, is often fraught with difficulties and can cause further analysis or the assessment process to come grinding to a halt, This article reviews some social, poli tical, and ethical issues and the role of civil society in influencing the technology assessment process for new reproductive technologies in Canada. It is written from the perspective of one of the Deputy Directors of Resear ch and Evaluation for the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies and highlights the strengths and difficulties of technology assessment whe n civil society and technology assessment come face to face. A brief update by a policy analyst in Health Canada on the current situation of legislati on on new reproductive technologies has been provided and is included at th e end of this article.