There was bad news, and some good news, for academic stem-cell researchers yesterday. The National Institutes of Health said that researchers could not use 47 stem-cell lines, which might have produced new information about diseases including cystic fibrosis, because the cell lines had been donated using inadequate informed-consent procedures. The agency did, however, approve eight other lines. That makes a total of 75 lines eligible for federal research financing.
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3 Responses to NIH Bans 47 Stem-Cell Lines From Research Use
pchoffer - June 22, 2010 at 3:58 pm
Folks: the NIH spokesperson(according to the Washington Post) related “It was frankly rather painful for my expert advisory committee to recommend against approval of 47 additional lines from RGI because of a consent problem, but rigorous guidelines are only meaningful if they are rigorously applied.” The lines would have been useful not only in research into a wide variety of horrific human ailments, but, potentially, in finding remedies. I wonder then whose pain the expert advisory committee was feeling. Surely not the pain of the unborn, since the fetal tissue was never going to become human life. Nor the pain of the donors, since they had decided to dispose of the tissue. Perhaps the pain of the afflicted? A law of informed consent that is so distant from the reality of human pain is a law that should not be obeyed. As for “meaningful,” that surely is admin-speak, not science and surely not medicine. Best, Peter
llanorealist - June 22, 2010 at 7:57 pm
Since when can cells give informed consent.
lakemendota - June 23, 2010 at 9:41 am
“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”