Human stem cell research came to the fore in the late 1990s. It is generally divided into embryonic and adult (postnatal sources). In the earliest days of human development, the cells of the newly developing life have the potential to become the different cells of the developed human body. These early embryonic cells are called pluripotent. The developed human body has basic cells that produce specific kinds of cells for the continuation of the body's life. Scientists are experimenting with how they can use these embryonic and adult stem cells to heal the body.
Adult stem cells present no basic moral problem and, unlike embryonic stem cells, are already in trials producing therapeutic benefits to patients. However, the process of harvesting embryonic stem cells from a living human embryo results in the embryo's death and is thus fundamentally immoral.
Some scientists are attempting to derive embryonic stem cells from cloned human embryos. This is sometimes called "therapeutic cloning," though the cloning process is the same whether the cloned embryo is killed for research - not at all therapeutic for the embryo - or is allowed to come to birth. Some are seeking government funds to support the clone-and-kill approach.
In 1995 Congress passed the Dickey-Wicker Amendment banning federal funding of research harmful to the human embryo. In 1999, the Clinton Administration interpreted the Dickey-Wicker Amendment to mean that federal funds could not be used to derive the pluripotent stem cells from the embryo, but could be used for research on embryonic stem cells after they had been derived. On August 9, 2001, President Bush announced that federal funding would be available only for research on human embryonic stem cell lines already in existence as of that date.
In November 2007, two major scientific studies were published in Science and Cell that demonstrated how to produce induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) by direct reprogramming of adult cells. The iPS cells have the properties of human embryonic stem cells but are generated without destroying human embryos. Work on iPS cells has continued to go forward. A growing number of scientists think that the iPS cells breakthrough will make embryonic stem cell research a thing of the past.
On March 9, 2009, President Barack Obama issued an Executive Order overturning the Bush Administration embryonic stem cell research policy. On April 17, 2009, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued draft guidelines implementing the Obama directive. The public has until May 26 to submit comments. The guidelines currently do not allow federal funding for research on human embryonic stem cells derived from cloning or parthenogenesis, or from IVF embryos specially created for research purposes. However, some Members of Congress have announced their intention to introduce legislation that goes beyond draft NIH guidelines.
Also see: Umbilical Cord Blood Banks.
