Panel limits use of embryos

The President's Council on Bioethics released another report on Thursday (April 1) recommending a ban on reproductive cloning and a restriction of the use of embryos past 10 to 14 days after fertilization. However, the report failed to include any recommendations about studying embryos within the proposed limits, both those left over from in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics or cloned using somatic cell nuclear transfer procedures.Consequently, this report will likely have little impact on researchers currently using IVF-created embryos, which are largely in the 5- to 6-day stage of development, Council Deputy Staff Director Yuval Levin told The Scientist. The recommendations “don't limit research as it's practiced now,” Levin said. He added that, to the government's knowledge, no researchers are currently creating embryos solely for the purpose of research.The council also recommends a prohibition of “attempts to conceive a child by any means other than the union of egg and sperm”—essentially, a ban on the use of cloning procedures to create a live person.This report is a “bold” step, and one that may help settle ongoing debates by distinguishing cloning for the purposes of research from the generally disliked practice of cloning to create a full-blown child, Bernard Siegel, executive director of the Genetics Policy Institute, told The Scientist.By drawing a line between the different types of cloning, the report “leaves society open to debating cloning for research,” Siegel said, adding that it will likely be “well received by patient groups and disease advocates.”However, council member William Hurlbut of Stanford University told The Scientist that this report should not be interpreted as an endorsement of using embryos for research purposes. The council decided to only issue recommendations that received a unanimous vote, Hurlbut explained. Although all members agreed to ban reproductive cloning and limit research to embryos younger than 14 days—currently the legal limit in England—they remain divided over whether researchers should use embryos at all, he said.The report “does not involve an implicit consensus by the council for any research on embryos before 14 days,” Hurlbut said.For instance, during Thursday's meeting of the council, member Michael Gazzaniga of Dartmouth College announced his frustration at the lack of specificity in the current report. By not explicitly allowing the use of federal funds to create cloned embryos and study discarded embryos from IVF clinics, he argued, the council adopted a “don't ask, don't tell” policy, which may simply further confuse the issue.However, in a personal statement in the report's appendix, council members Robert P. George and Alfonso Gómez-Lobo note that they are among the members who “favor protecting human life from the very beginning by banning the use of living human embryos at any stage of development as disposable research material.”Bush established the council in January 2002. The 18-person group, comprising scientists, lawyers, physicians, and others, published its first report, a recommendation for federal regulations on human cloning, in July 2002. Since then, the council has issued two more reports on biotechnology (October 2003) and stem cell research (January 2004), as well as a collection of readings about bioethics (December 2003). Bush renewed his executive order for the council in January when its first 2-year term expired. Last month, the council drew headlines when President Bush dismissed two members and replaced them with two researchers that Siegel dubbed “outspoken foes of [somatic cell nuclear transfer] research.”The report, entitled Reproduction and Responsibility: The Regulation of New Biotechnologies, also recommends longitudinal studies into the impact of assisted reproductive technologies on the women who use them and the children they conceive and improvements in the regulation of the industry.Levin explained that the council's recommendations will become law only if approved by Congress. If so, they will be binding to both public and private researchers, he added.Correction (posted April 6, 2004): When originally posted, this story included the incorrect affiliation for Michael Gazzaniga. The Scientist regrets the error.

Panel limits use of embryos

US President's Council restricts study of embryos past 14 days, silent on work before that

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of