The US expansion of federal funding for human embryonic stem-cell research is being hampered by details in consent forms.rnEarlier this month, researchers celebrated the government's approval of funding for a broad variety of work on 13 stem-cell lines-the first approved under the policy announced by US President Barack Obama in March.rnBut on 14 December, Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, decided to respect the unanimous opinion of his standing advisory committee and restrict NIH funding for an additional 27 lines to purposes outlined in the associated consent form. He has as yet declined to discuss his reasoning.
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