The Department of Health and Human Services says its decision to place new restrictions on the use of human fetal tissue in medical research follows a review that began last September of HHS research involving such tissue.
The decision follows an audit of all HHS researches involving human fetal tissue from elective abortions in light of "the serious regulatory, moral and ethical considerations involved", the US agency said.
- The Trump Administration announced it will defund medical research that uses fetal tissue from elective abortions.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List called the decision "a major pro-life victory".
Wednesday's announcement turns on its head an assurance to scientists late a year ago at an invitation-only NIH workshop on fetal tissue research.
The Health and Human Services Department announced the policy shift in a six-paragraph statement. The new policy affects three of NIH's 3,000 internal projects, she said, adding that they will be allowed to continue until fetal tissue material runs out.
However the scientific consensus is there is no adequate substitute for fetal tissues in certain areas of research such as learning how the Zika virus moves from a pregnant woman's bloodstream to infect the fetus and attack its developing brain; how to prevent this requires studying fetal tissues according to Sally Temple, neuroscientist at the Neural Stem Cell Institute.
The statement also pledged that the administration continues to review and fund ethical alternatives to researching tissue obtained from abortions.
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"Today's move demonstrates NIH's investment in scientifically proven methods for research: adult stem cells, [induced pluripotent stem] cells, organdies, humanized mice constructed using postnatally sourced cells and improved non-human cell lines, just to name a few", said Dr. David Prentice, vice president of the SBA's research arm, the Charlotte Lozier Institute.
However, tax dollars have been contributing to an industry that fosters the trafficking of body parts from aborted babies. "Not only is the practice unethical, it is ineffective: fetal tissue, including fetal organs like liver and thymus, have not produced a single clinical treatment". They claim that stem cells or voluntary tissue taken from infants who undergo heart surgery can replace fetal tissue in research.
As for whether the government's new ethics panel would thwart researchers outside NIH, UCSD's Goldstein said, "one hopes it will be unbiased, but one never knows".
At the invitation-only workshop at NIH late previous year, Giroir, who oversaw much of the audit, told participants that any alternative source of tissue "must be as predictive, as reliable and as validated as existing models", according to a scientist who was present. "HHS is committed to providing additional funding to support the development and validation of alternative models".
Scientists who had been encouraged by that statement were crushed to learn of the changed posture. The development of vaccines against polio, rubella, measles, chickenpox, adenovirus, and rabies all involved fetal tissue, as did the discovery of treatments for rheumatoid arthritis, cystic fibrosis, and hemophilia.
Advanced Bioscience Resources's contract, which was worth almost $16,000, was used to "develop testing protocols", by injecting the tissue into lab mice, according to HHS.
As an example of this, the department noted that it had devoted $20 million in December to finding acceptable alternatives to human fetal tissue for research. The contract previously had been renewed annually and later in 90-day increments. That is the funding that expires on Wednesday.
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