Did Sperm and Egg Donors Unwittingly Contribute to NIH-Approved Stem Cells?
By Jocelyn Kaiser,
ScienceInsider
| 02. 07. 2013
A review of the 200 or so human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines
approved by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for federal funding has found a possible ethical problem: Some of the cells may have come from sperm or egg donors who didn't consent to having their cells used in research. University oversight committees should be aware that these cell lines may not meet widely accepted standards, the authors say.
In July 2009, following an order from President Barack Obama, NIH
issued guidelines laying out ethical standards that all hESC lines studied with NIH funding must meet. The cell lines must have been derived from surplus embryos donated by couples receiving fertility treatments, for example. But the guidelines
don't discuss the possibility that some embryos made have been created using donor eggs or sperm, even though 2005 National Academy of Sciences (NAS) guidelines call for consent from gamete donors. Research administrators at the Rockefeller University in New York City became concerned about this gap last year after a survey suggested that U.S. in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics usually don't...
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Bioethics needs an update
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Companies are increasingly...
By Elizabeth Chuck, NBC News | 07.09.2024
A Netflix docuseries has put a spotlight on the unregulated world of sperm donation, particularly the lack of stopgap measures that might prevent donors who have been banned by one country from simply going elsewhere to donate more.
Released earlier...
By Amanda Becker and Shefali Luthra, The 19th | 07.08.2024
Image by Duke University Archives from Flickr
Republicans have adopted a slate of policy positions ahead of next week’s convention that does not call for a federal legislative abortion ban, but opens the door to establishing fetal personhood.
The Republican...