WASHINGTON - More oversight is needed to ensure that research using stem cells culled from human embryos is done under strict ethical standards, a government advisory group said Tuesday in proposing guidelines for the controversial field.
Strict limits on taxpayer-funded research using human embryonic stem cells means most of the work in the field is done with little federal oversight. The new report recommends standards in how researchers cull, store, distribute and use the cells.
"Heightened oversight is essential to assure the public that stem cell research is being carried out in an ethical manner," said Jonathan Moreno, a biomedical ethicist who co-wrote the report for the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine.
Stem cells form in the first few days of a developing embryo and are capable of becoming any type of cell in the body. Researchers hope they can find ways to use these cells to cure illnesses, but the research has been controversial because the embryo is destroyed in collecting the cells.
President Bush banned federal funding for stem cell research except for already existing cell lines, but private funding is continuing some new research.
