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Technorati"The NIH guidelines create an incentive to create and destroy so-called 'excess' embryos, pasting a veneer of 'ethics' on unethical experiments. They remove limits on taxpayer funding of experiments that require embryo destruction, and open the door to future abuses,” Perkins stated. “NIH clearly believes the President's order allows them to fund other forms of unethical research at any point in the future.”
Perkins accused the NIH of ignoring the some 30,000 comments that were submitted against any federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research and chastised the government agency for not investing more in research that is not only undoubtedly ethical but also more fruitful.
Despite the highly touted potential of embryonic stem cells to develop into any cell of the body, embryonic stem cell research has yielded no cures to date. Adult stem cells and neonatal stem cells, meanwhile, have been used in successfully treating over 100 diseases and have been hailed by some as having many superior qualities to embryonic stem cells.
"Instead of funding more life-destroying experiments, federal funding should go toward life-saving treatments and clinical trials using adult stem cells, which are on the cutting edge of treating patients for diabetes, spinal cord injury, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, and other diseases," concluded Perkins.
According to a poll released last year by the polling company, inc., 69 percent of Americans say they support stem cell research but only 45 percent say they support both adult and embryonic stem cell research when asked more specifically.
Furthermore, only 17 percent of Americans say they are “very familiar” with stem cell research while 41 are either “a little bit familiar” or “not at all familiar.” Roughly 42 percent say they are “somewhat familiar.”
According NIH acting director Kington, the NIH will review and update the stem cell guidelines "periodically, as appropriate,” as directed by Obama's executive order.
Obama had signed the order on March 9, effectively reversing former President Bush's stem cell policy by undoing his 2001 directive that banned federal funding for research into stem lines created after Aug. 9, 2001.
