Stem cell regulation moves forward.

EMBRYONIC stem cell research; FEDERAL aid to research; NATIONAL Institutes of Health (U.S.); MEDICAL ethics

The article reports on the final guidelines issued by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in July 2009 on expanding funding for research projects involving human embryonic stem cells (ESC). The guidelines grant a special working group the discretion to make older ESC lines eligible for funding, after considering the ethics involved. The draft guidelines issued in April led to concern that some ESC lines might not receive funding as they would not meet the rules on informed consent by couples whose embryos were used to create them.