NIH Issues New Guidelines for Human Stem Cell Research

NIH Issues New Guidelines for Human Stem Cell Research Tuesday, 07 July 2009 On March 9, 2009, President Barack H. Obama issued Executive Order (EO)13505 Removing Barriers to Responsible Scientific Research Involving Human Stem Cells. The EO states that the Secretary of Health and Human Services, through the Director of NIH, may support and conduct responsible, scientifically worthy human stem cell research, including human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research, to the extent permitted by law. NIH published draft Guidelines for research involving hESCs in the Federal Register for public comment, 74 Fed. Reg. 18578 on April 23, 2009. The comment period ended on May 26, 2009. Approximately 49,000 comments on the draft Guidelines were submitted to NIH by patient advocacy groups, scientists and scientific societies, academic institutions, medical organizations, religious organizations, private citizens, and members of Congress. The final NIH Guidelines for Human Stem Cell Research implementing the EO and establishing policy and procedures under which the NIH will fund such research, were released today. They will be effective on July 7, 2009. Public comments on the draft Guidelines were also released today and are available at. The Guidelines will ensure that NIH-funded research in this area is ethically responsible, scientifically worthy, and conducted in accordance with applicable law. Internal NIH policies and procedures, consistent with the EO and these Guidelines, will govern the conduct of intramural NIH stem cell research. The Guidelines prescribe the assurances and supporting documentation that must accompany requests for NIH funding for research using hESCs, and describe research that is not eligible for NIH funding. NIH will provide additional guidance concerning the implementation of the Guidelines and the status of pending applications in future Guide Notices. Ongoing NIH-supported research involving previously approved hESC lines may continue. No new uses of hESC may be initiated in ongoing funded studies unless reviewed and approved by the NIH. Reference: National Institutes of Health Guidelines on Human Stem Cell Research Stem Cell Information, Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2009 [cited Monday, July 06, 2009] ......... ZenMaster

---

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

---