Stem Cell Research Recommendations for the New US Administration

Stem Cell Research Recommendations for the New US Administration Wednesday, 18 February 2009 US President Barack Obama will soon issue an executive order lifting an eight-year ban on embryonic stem cell research imposed by his predecessor, President George W. Bush, a senior adviser said on Sunday. "We're going to be doing something on that soon, I think. The president is considering that right now," Presidential adviser David Axelrod said on "Fox News Sunday”. Obama vowed to reverse Bush's ban during his presidential campaign and in his inaugural address last month promised to return science to its proper place in the United States. Furthermore, the US Food and Drug Administration last month cleared the way for the first trial to see if human embryonic stem cells could treat people safely. In January, Baker Institute fellows Neal Lane and Kirstin Matthews released policy recommendations on stem cell research for the Obama administration. They recommend that stem cell research be allowed to expand in a responsible, thoughtful and ethical manner and that a federal stem cell policy be developed. They encourage the administration to expand federal funding for human embryonic stem cells and charge the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with oversight. Lane is a senior fellow in science and technology policy. He also served President Clinton as science adviser and is the former director of the National Science Foundation. Matthews is a fellow in science and technology policy. Matthews and Lane's policy recommendations for the Obama administration:

• Support research on all types of human stem cells, including embryonic, adult, nuclear-transfer-derived (also known as therapeutic cloning) and induced-pluripotent-derived.
• Authorize federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research on lines derived according to strict ethical guidelines, regardless of the date the cell lines were derived or created.
• Remove the

Dickey Amendment (which severely limits the NIH funding of embryonic research) from the Department of Health and Human Services appropriation bills.

Ban any effort to clone a human being, regardless of the source of funding.

Create an Embryonic Stem Cells Research Oversight (ESCRO) board within the NIH to review controversial research and recommend policy for the agency.

Continue the President's Council on Bioethics.

References: Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Recommendations for the Next Administration Neal Lane and Kirstin Matthews, Rice University Stem Cell Research: A Science and Policy Overview Kirstin R. Matthews, Rice University ......... ZenMaster

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For more on stem cells and cloning, go to CellNEWS at http://cellnews-blog.blogspot.com/ and http://www.geocities.com/giantfideli/index.html

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