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. 2006 Feb;3(5):e143.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0030143.

Moving human embryonic stem cells from legislature to lab: remaining legal and ethical questions

Henry T Greely  1
Affiliations

Moving human embryonic stem cells from legislature to lab: remaining legal and ethical questions

Henry T Greely. PLoS Med. 2006 Feb.

Abstract

Greely discusses unanswered ethical and legal issues, such as those surrounding the creation of embryos, derivation of cell lines, uses of cell lines, and questions of intellectual property.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: HTG's employer, Stanford University, has substantial interests of many kinds in human embryonic stem cell research. HTG is part of a Stanford group that stands to receive a grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) if CIRM receives funding (see Box 1), and he is likely to apply for further grants from CIRM in the future. He is a member of the ethics committee of the International Society for Stem Cell Research. He is an unpaid member of the Ethics Advisory Committee of Affymetrix, Inc., which might have hopes of servicing a market for gene expression analysis of hESCs if they become widely used.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Stem Cell Policy Map
Countries colored in brown have a permissive or flexible policy on human embryonic stem cell research. All have banned human reproductive cloning. These countries represent about 3.4 billion people, more than half the world's population. “Permissive” (countries in dark brown) means that various embryonic stem cell derivation techniques are permitted, including SCNT. “Flexible” (countries in light brown) means that stem cells may be derived from human embryos donated by fertility clinics only, excluding SCNT. Countries in yellow have either a restrictive policy or no established policy. (Image: William Hoffman, MBBNet [6])
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Thomson JA, et al. Embryonic stem cell lines derived from human blastocysts. Science. 1998;281:1145. - PubMed
    1. The California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative. 2004 (Proposition 71). Cal Legis Serv Prop 71 (West). Enacted.
    1. California Senate. Stem cells: Human tissue: Research. SB 253 ch 789. 2002 Available: http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/01-02/bill/sen/sb_0251-0300/sb_253_bill_20020.... Accessed 2 February 2006.
    1. California Senate. Stem cell research. SB 322 ch 506. 2003 Available: http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/03-04/bill/sen/sb_0301-0350/sb_322_bill_20030.... Accessed 3 February 2006.
    1. National Research Council and Institute of Medicine (US), Committee for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research. Guidelines for human embryonic stem cell research. Washington (D. C.): National Academies Press; 2005. 142 pp.