Stem cell research rules proposed for new U.S. policy

The proposed guidelines released Friday by the National Institutes of Health would increase the number of stem cell lines available for research from the current 20 to several hundred, said Raynard Kington, acting NIH director. The draft rules would ban U.S. funding to scientists using stem cells from embryos created solely for research purposes.

Embryonic stem cells can grow into any kind of tissue and may accelerate research into cures for diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. President Barack Obama on March 9 lifted restrictions on U.S. government funding for the research imposed in 2001 by former President George W. Bush. The step allows scientists working with embryonic stem cells to gain a share of the NIH's US$10 billion from the economic stimulus bill.

“This will open up a huge number of new lines for federal funding,” including 40 to 50 lines created at Harvard University, said George Daley, a researcher with Harvard's Stem Cell Institute, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The Harvard lines would be eligible to be used in federally supported research because they were made from leftover embryos that otherwise would be discarded after in-vitro fertilization.

Advocates had urged a wider expansion of stem cell research than proposed by the new guidelines, said Susan Solomon, chief executive officer of the New York Stem Cell Foundation, in an interview Friday.

“What we had hoped for is that promising stem cell lines that have been created with other methods would be available for funding,” Solomon said.

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