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National Academies Draft Ethics Guidelines for Stem Cell Research

Nick Wade of New York Times chronicles the announcement of guidelines for embryonic stem cell research from the National Academy of Sciences. The guidelines were promulgated through a group led by Jonathan Moreno and Richard Hynes (of MIT). They are interesting and novel and will spur a lot of good debate. And the NAS does not dodge the bullet by restricting its comments to "left over embryos" - no, this report goes right at the tough stuff like making chimera embryos, cloning based embryos, and egg donation for stem cell research.

Plus let's face it Jon looks sharp.

From the NYT report:

The academy's guidelines would impose limits on three kinds of experiment that involve incorporating human embryonic stem cells into animals. Undesired consequences could follow if human cells were to become incorporated into the sex cells or the brains of animals. In the first case, there is a remote possibility that an animal with eggs made of human cells could mate with an animal bearing human sperm. To avoid human conception in such circumstances, the academy says chimeric animals should not be allowed to mate.

A second possible hazard is that the human embryonic stem cells might generate all or most of an animal's brain, leading to the possibility of a human mind imprisoned in an animal's body. Though neuroscientists consider this unlikely, it cannot be ruled out, particularly with animals closely related to people, like monkeys and apes. The academy advises that human embryonic stem cells not be injected into the embryos of nonhuman primates for the time being.

Third, like many previous committees, the academy says human embryos should not be grown in culture for more than 14 days, the time when the first hints of a nervous system appear.

The academy advises that all institutions conducting human embryonic stem cell research set up local committees, including scientific experts and members of the public, to review all experiments. And it says a national committee should be formed to update regulations and relax the constraints if warranted by new evidence.

The academy also says that donors, including women who donate unfertilized eggs, should not be paid.