Florida: Currently, the Florida House and Senate are considering bills that would provide $150 million in state funding for stem cell research over 10 years. If the law is passed, embryos discarded by in vitro fertilization clinics can be used for research purposes. But the outlook is uncertain. Some Florida lawmakers, including Gov. Jeb Bush, have spoken out about stem cell research. The National Bioethics Advisory Committee refers 13 recommendations to President Clinton suggesting that human embryonic stem cell research on fetal body tissue and surplus embryos resulting from IVF fertilization should be allowed. During Bush`s second term, in July 2006, he used his first presidential veto against the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act was the name of two similar laws, and both were opposed by President George W. Bush and were not signed into law. Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey drafted a Stem Cell Therapy and Research Act in 2005, which was signed into law by President Bush. It allocated $265 million for adult stem cell therapy, cord blood and bone marrow treatment, and approved $79 million for cord blood stem cell collection.
Scientists at Seoul National University announce successful cloning of human embryos. Later, it turns out that the research was rigged. New Jersey: California made headlines, but in fact, in mid-2004, the first state-backed STEM research institute was established in New Jersey. Since then, however, efforts to make the institute a reality have largely stalled. Even the threat of a possible research ban could lead to a brain drain in states with personality laws, said Michele Bratcher Goodwin, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine and director of the Center for Biotechnology and Global Health Policy at the law school. The measure passed by California voters in 2004 was much more than generous financial support for stem cell research. It was a major shift, perhaps even a paradigm shift in how a state-funded medical research program can be organized. The most important precedent before Proposition 71 was the world`s largest medical research program, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), worth more than $30 billion(11). To briefly summarize the NIH model, the NIH is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, so executive branch guidelines apply to how the NIH accomplishes its research mission. Congress determines the annual budget of the NIH and the funding of the various institutes and centers within the NIH. Congress also determines the distribution of funds among these institutions to implement national research priorities.
Scientific priorities are determined by each Institute based on detailed advice from Scientific Expert Advisory Boards and some input from patient representatives. Individual applications for research funding are submitted to scientific committees with expertise in the discipline. Sometimes Congress tries to influence these decisions by excluding funding from a particular area of research or even a particular grant application. “All of this inevitably leads to the conclusion that the deliberate use of an embryo in research or to obtain embryonic stem cell lines – which we know will destroy the embryo – will almost certainly be illegal. The question is whether it is illegal under which heading. Is it murder? Is it manslaughter? Charo, a bioethicist and law professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said. “This is the worst outcome we can imagine,” says George Daley, a stem cell researcher at Boston Children`s Hospital in Massachusetts. “It`s going to be extremely disruptive for anyone who has money from the NIH [to work on human ESC], which has been a big problem since Obama`s policy.” Embryonic stem cells hold promise for health and medicine, as they can transform into any cell in the human body and offer the potential to repair and regenerate tissues damaged by various diseases. They can also be used to test drug candidates for toxicity. But embryos must be destroyed when creating stem cell lines for research. It is illegal to create embryos specifically for research, but American researchers can use embryos from in vitro fertilization that would otherwise be discarded and donated for research. The NIH approves the first set of new stem cell lines that are now eligible for federal funding.
13 lines have been approved, and another 20 lines are expected to be approved in the coming days. Another ESC program based on the California model was launched in New York in fiscal year 2008. A new state agency, the Empire State Stem Cell Board, is running this important program that mimics and rivals California`s efforts. It started with an allocation of $100 million for its first year and is guaranteed for ten years with at least $50 million per year. Reproductive cloning should be prohibited without further research restrictions (29). The Empire State Stem Cell Board departed from the usual schemes by being the first state to allow public financial compensation for donating donated human eggs solely for research purposes (30).