THE rules governing federal funding of embryonic stem cell research in the US are being interpreted more loosely than many scientists had dared hope.
On 9 August 2001, President Bush announced that federal funds could only be used to fund work on embryonic stem cell lines derived before that date. It was a compromise he hoped would satisfy scientists and patients鈥� groups while placating those who oppose such research because an embryo has to be destroyed to obtain human ESCs.
The President claimed that 60 cell lines would be available, yet many of those turned out to be poorly characterised, hard to obtain or unsuitable for certain applications.
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While there have never been any restrictions on privately funded ESC work, most academic researchers assumed that they would lose their government grants if they also did private research into cell lines derived after 9 August 2001 in their federally funded labs.
To get around this, some research teams set up separate facilities, with separate funding. But because of the time and expense that this involves, it would be impossible for most institutions to do likewise.
However, five months ago the National Institutes of Health released its interpretation of the Bush policy. This allows federally funded researchers to work on new ESC lines or even create new ones, so long as the research is not paid for with government money. The policy was only made public by American newspapers last week.
鈥淭his is very helpful,鈥� says Bob Goldstein of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, which encouraged the NIH to clarify the stem cell rule. 鈥淭he door to the research community is now open.鈥�
鈥淭his announcement will alleviate the fears of some university officials,鈥� agrees Doug Melton of Harvard University in Boston, whose lab is now deriving new ESC lines. But Melton still feels there鈥檚 a chilly atmosphere, making it difficult to recruit the best young talent. 鈥淭he government isn鈥檛 promoting what is one of the most exciting new fields of science,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey are just implementing a political compromise to allow some ESC research to go forward.鈥�