The National Institutes of Health [NIH] released the draft of its "Guidelines for Human Stem Cell Research" on April 17, thus revealing the specific policy proposals that will expand federal funding for stem cell research using human embryos.
The proposed guidelines contain few real surprises, given the fact that legislative barriers to the direct destruction of human embryos remain in effect. The main issue is the expansion of funding to include stem cells derived from human embryos created by in vitro fertilization in IVF clinics. The remainder of the guidelines have to do mostly with informed consent procedures.
Here is the key section of the NIH statement:
These draft Guidelines would allow funding for research using human embryonic stem cells that were derived from embryos created by in vitro fertilization (IVF) for reproductive purposes and were no longer needed for that purpose. Funding will continue to be allowed for human stem cell research using adult stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells. Specifically, these Guidelines describe the conditions and informed consent procedures that would have been required during the derivation of human embryonic stem cells for research using these cells to be funded by the NIH. NIH funding for research using human embryonic stem cells derived from other sources, including somatic cell nuclear transfer, parthenogenesis, and/or IVF embryos created for research purposes, is not allowed under these Guidelines.
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