HHS announces restrictions on fetal tissue research

[Michael Oberdorfer]

The Washington Post and other news sources report on a change of HHS policy which effectively bans all government-funded human fetal tissue research on material obtained from elective abortions.
The policy change will terminate NIH intramural, extramural and a long-standing partnership between the University of California San Francisco and NIH to research and design animal models for vaccine development and a range of diseases including neurodegenerative conditions. You can see the UCSF response here.
The Post reports this policy shift appears to be politically motivated involving the Vice President and announced yesterday by the President.
The announcement has sparked wide condemnation throughout the research community, including a statement by Doug Melton, a professor at Harvard: “The regulatory and legal framework in the U.S. for overseeing fetal tissue research was carefully developed with input from the public, ethicists, policymakers and scientists and ensures rigorous oversight, including that the tissue is obtained legally and with donor consent.”
Other researchers have said at present there are no effective alternatives to this human fetal tissue research although work is underway in this area.

Your thoughts, and how will this affect your research.

[Gabriella Panuccio]

I do not personally use fetal tissue in my research, but I think that, as we are free to opt for organ donation (and if not us, our next of keen), then moms could donate fetal tissue say after abortion. I have never gone through such a personal tragedy, so I’m giving my opinion as an MD and a scientist not personally involved in this.
Maybe such policies derive out of the collective imagery of fetal dismemberment along the lines of animal activists believe we are torturing animals.
The subject is very delicate and must be handled with care and caution. But in the end I think that vox populi is always the option to go for. I could never understand why certain delicate decisions are made by others on behalf of society, rather than asking society straight about it.
Any thoughts?