Diseased cells fail to win approval

摘要

In the latest obstacle to expanding the number of embryonic stem-cell lines eligible for US federal funding, a National Institutes of Health (NIH) committee has unanimously rejected dozens of cell lines carrying mutations for specific diseases. The committee of advisers to NIH director Francis Collins ruled that the extremely broad language in the informed-consent form signed by donating couples does not meet ethical requirements.rn"We are sorry about the decision about these lines," says Collins, who must sign off on the 10 June vote. "Many of them contained interesting single-gene mutations, but if we have guidelines we have to stick to them in order to maintain credibility."