Stem cell worries continue in US

Following the announcement by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) last week that 64 embryonic stem cell lines have been identified as eligible for use in federally funded projects, it has emerged that some of these cells may be unsuitable for research. Some scientists are claiming that not all the stem cell lines are currently available, or if they are, may be too young or fragile to be used. Tony Mazzaschi from the Association of American Medical Colleges said that the NIH list did not resolve some 'critical questions', such as whether the cell lines identified 'are usable, whether they are available, whether they are robust'.

Some of the ten research centres and companies around the world that hold these stem cell lines have questioned the maths of the NIH, saying that although they have stem cells, not all of their cell groups or clusters could honestly be called 'stem cell lines'. The NIH has admitted that there may initially be supply problems, acknowledging that some stem cell lines are in the very early stages of development, and may not prove useful.

Meanwhile, Jim Clark, the billionaire founder of Netscape, has suspended a $60 million donation that was to help build and staff a biomedical research centre at Stanford University in California. Clark stated that he is withholding the money in protest at the Bush administration's restrictions on federal funding for stem cell work. He called the Bush decision 'beyond comprehension' and said that it is 'futile to think that private funding can make up what is being lost to laws driven by conservative politics'. He also stated that the 'legislative action will cause the United States to miss a revolution in biology'.