Ongoing policy uncertainty is detrimental for stem cell scientists
Thursday, February 3, 2011 - 13:03
in Health & Medicine
While there is no doubt that the ethical controversy surrounding human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research has given rise to an uncertain policy environment, the true impact of years of frequent policy changes has not been fully assessed. Now, an article published by Cell Press on February 3rd in the journal Cell Stem Cell reports on a recent survey of several hundred stem cell scientists in the United States and begins to reveal the substantial negative impact that this uncertainty has had on them, including both those who work directly with hESCs and those who work with less contentious types of stem cells.