Profession
Stem cell research guidelines released
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted May 16, 2005
Revised donor consent rules, prohibition on paying donors and limits to mixing human and animal cells are among the recommendations included in "Guidelines for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research," a 131-page report that a joint committee of the National Academies' National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine released April 26.
"A standard set of requirements for deriving, storing, distributing and using embryonic stem cell lines -- one to which the entire U.S. scientific community adheres -- is the best way for this research to move forward," committee co-chair Richard O. Hynes, PhD, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge said in a statement.
Compliance with the guidelines is voluntary, but the panel urged everyone involved in human embryonic stem cell research to abide by them.
The guides met a mixed reaction.
Sen. Sam Brownback (R, Kan.), an opponent of embryonic stem cell research, called the recommendations an attempt "to put a good face on an unethical line of research."
The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, however, described the guidelines as "far reaching" and said they provide "a road map for ethically exploring the full potential of embryonic stem cell research."
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2005/05/16/prbf0516.htm.
