Stem Cells—Explained and Explored
A Summary of policy guidelines
Consensus on ethics of embryonic stem cell research
Research with human embryonic stem cells is a relatively new technology and enters into some uncharted ethical territory. Among the many ethics boards and professional societies that have carefully reviewed the science and debated policies, some essential ethical standards have emerged for the conduct of this research:
- Use only IVF clinic embryos that are already slated for disposal.
- Obtain parental consent, without coercion, to use embryos for research.
- Do not purchase embryos or pay donors.
- Do not create human embryos solely for research.
- Do not use nuclear transfer techniques for reproductive cloning.
Many major religious organizations have also considered these questions and attempted to provide guidance on this new issue.
A compendium position statements on stem cell research by a broad array of scientific, disease and research groups may be found at the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research’s website.
A few of these are summarized here:
National Academy of Sciences
Board on Life Sciences and Board on Health Sciences Policy
“Guidelines for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research” (2005)
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- Create special review boards to oversee human embryonic stem cell research.
- These boards should ensure adherence to informed consent and protection of confidentiality; evaluate all plans to create new hES cell lines; and review plans to introduce hES cells into non-human animals.
- Do not study any human embryo for more than 14 days, or until formation of the primitive streak (body axis and beginnings of central nervous system), whichever comes first.
- Do not use hES cells to create chimeras or insert hES cells into non-human primates.
- Animals that have been implanted with hES should not be permitted to breed.
- Do not offer any incentives including financial or medical to donors.
University of Michigan
Policy on Research with Human Embryonic Stem Cells (May, 2005)
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- Embryos may be secured only from fertility clinics, must be slated for disposal, and freely and voluntarily donated by their creators for research;
- Embryos must not be purchased;
- There must be no incentives to create embryos solely for the purposes of research;
- Informed consent must have been obtained for donation of the embryo;
- There must have been no financial inducements for donation of the embryo;
- Privacy and confidentiality provisions to protect the donor must be in place.
American Medical Association
Adopted by the AMA House of Delegates at the 2002 AMA Annual Meeting.
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The AMA:
- Supports biomedical research on multipotent stem cells (including adult and cord blood stem cells);
- Supports the use of somatic cell nuclear transfer technology in biomedical research (therapeutic cloning);
- Opposes the use of somatic cell nuclear transfer technology for the specific purpose of producing a human child (reproductive cloning);
- Encourages strong public support of federal funding for research involving human pluripotent stem cells; and
- Will continue to monitor developments in stem cell research and the use of somatic cell nuclear transfer technology.
American Association for Cancer Researcher
Approved by the AACR Board of Directors, April 15, 2005
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AACR believes that stem cell research can be conducted in a manner consistent with established ethical principles, and so strongly supports responsible explorations of the full spectrum of stem cell biology, including the use of human embryonic stem cells, for meritorious scientific research and therapy development.
National Health Council Statement, July 2000
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(T)he National Health Council believes that stem cell research should move forward under strict guidelines that provide proper oversight and public accountability.
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