Draft federal stem cell policy gets it right

Last month, when President Obama signed an executive order removing his predecessor's restrictions on the federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research, he didn't actually detail what would and wouldn't be eligible for federal grants. Instead, he tasked that to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). His statements at that time and during his campaign, as well as those of his top domestic policy advisor, indicated that he intended to support research with real potential while drawing lines at dangerous and unethical avenues of work.

Today, the NIH released its draft guidelines, which are consistent with Obama's previous comments.  Here are their key points:

Only work with stem cell lines derived from embryos which were created but not needed for fertility purposes will be eligible for federal funding.

The guidelines include several provisions to ensure that the donors (i.e., the intended parents in the fertility setting) gave proper informed consent.

Certain types of so-called "chimera" research will be ineligible for funding.

Work with lines derived from embryos created either specifically for research purposes or by cloning (nuclear transfer or parthenogenesis) will also be ineligible for federal funding.

Surprisingly, the draft did not include a grandfather clause to ensure that all stem cell lines approved by the Bush administration will continue to be eligible for federal support.

Earlier today, CGS released a press statement with our reaction. We think President Obama and the NIH got it right: The draft is consistent with his campaign promises, consistent with public opinion, and draws lines in a way that will allow promising research to go forward while preventing potential abuses.

The limitation to excess IVF embryos has drawn the most attention. Many scientists and research advocates appear to be satisfied with this, at least for now (e.g. Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, California Institute for Regenerative Medicine [PDF], University of Michigan Center for Stem Cell Biology). Here is the executive publisher of Science, Alan Leshner:

Some groups and scientists have wanted the administration to go further, but we are happy to have this progress after such a long period of limited opportunities to pursue this very important line of research.

Some, however, are unhappy. Researcher and biotech executive Irving Weissman complained that

Instead of facts, the NIH placed its own version of ethics in place of the president's clear proclamation.... [T]his suggested ban on federal funding of SCNT-derived human embryonic stem cell lines is against our policies and against President Obama's March 9 comments. The NIH has not served its president well.

Congress members Diana DeGette and Mike Castle, authors of past bills to remove Bush's restrictions on federal funding, said that they intend to loosen the guidelines through legislation.

The acting director of the NIH, Raynard Kingston, explained the agency's position (1, 2):

We believe there is strong broad support to use federal funds to conduct human embryonic stem cell research on cell lines derived from embryos created for reproductive purposes and no longer needed for that purpose. Twice there has been legislation that would allow such use that passed both the House and Senate. There is not similar broad support for using federal funds for stem cells derived for other purposes....

We don't believe there is consensus yet, even within scientific community [on whether cloning-based stem cell research should be conducted].... We do not know of any human embryonic stem cell lines that were created from somatic nuclear transfer, or that were created just for stem cell purposes.