Policy uncertainty regarding federal funding of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research is a problem for all stem cell researchers, according to a new study.
A November 2010 survey of 370 US stem cell researchers published in Cell Stem Cell found that recent legal challenges to the current administration’s hESC research policies has deterred some scientists from beginning research on the cells and forced others to change the type of cells they’re using for current research (1).
The study found that after numerous legal challenges to hESC research, scientists from many fields are affected by the policy’s ambiguity. Of 206 researchers who completed the study’s survey and use hESCs, 75% reported that policy uncertainty affects their research and 24% reported substantial impact.
47% of stem cell scientists who work with pluripotent stem cells but not hESC lines reported an impact, and 22% of researchers working on with non-pluripotent stem cells indicated moderate to substantial impact on their research.
Researchers working directly with hESC lines were not sure whether their research was still funded by the NIH. Researchers who were not yet using hESC lines reported that they were also hesitant to begin new research projects using hESCs, since they feel the legality of their research could be called into question again.
Levine says that stem cell researchers have been going to great lengths to make sure that federal funding is only applied to materials for eligible research.
Researchers working on other types of stem cells, such as mouse stem cells or induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS), are also uncertain of their future work, which may involve working with hESC lines. “This is a pretty broad harm that is affecting the scientific community as a whole,” says Levine.
Levine believes that some scientists, for whom hESCs would provide the tool for their work, are moving toward other types of stem cells that may not be as promising.
To remedy this problem, Levine believes that Congress needs to provide scientists with a clear law that outlines what hESC research can be federally funded, rather than depend on the interpretation of legislation that predates the field.
Each administration has provided new guidelines regarding the legality of federally funded hESC projects since the field’s nascence in 1998. Under President Bill Clinton, the government funded hESC research on cell lines derived prior to 2000. In 2001, President George W. Bush’s administration limited research to lines derived before his announcement. In 2009, President Barack Obama has allowed research on more lines that were ethically derived, making several Bush-era lines no longer eligible. In 2010, a lawsuit was filed against the Obama administration’s policy, leading to a temporary injunction that stopped federal funding of hESC research.
References
1. Levine, A.D. 2010. Policy Uncertainty and the Conduct of Stem Cell Research. Cell Stem Cell 8:132–135.
