Abstract
In a recent essay in Science, we advocated lifting restrictions on federal funding for research involving parthenogenesis, restrictions that have been placed by a rider, the Dickey-Wicker Amendment (DWA), to every budget for the US Department of Labor, Health, and Human Services, and Education since 1996. We concluded that contribution by calling for the reconsideration of the entire amendment and suggesting that it be removed from the budget. In this contribution, we outline how research using human parthenotes, embryos, stem cells, eggs, or sperm could be ethically funded if the DWA were to be rescinded in the USA.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 129-132 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Science and Public Policy |
| Volume | 39 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2012 |
Funding
While a federal panel to oversee regulation of PESES research in the absence of the DWA would be new to the USA, there are two important precedents from which we can learn. The first is the Ethics Advisory Board (EAB). The EAB was established in 1974 by the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to review proposals that could raise ethical concerns, including research involving embryos and in vitro fertilization (IVF). Only research approved by the EAB could be funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In 1979, a year following the birth of the first IVF-conceived baby in the UK, the EAB issued a report stating that research involving embryos, in particular research regarding the now-viable IVF methodology, was ethically responsible. Indeed, they took it a step further, claiming that ‘a broad prohibition of research involving human IVF is neither justified nor wise’ (US Congress 1988; Harris 2006). But the EAB’s recommendations on federally funding research on IVF and embryos were never implemented. When Ronald Reagan became President in 1980, the EAB was dissolved, and a new board was not created, resulting in a de facto moratorium on the federal funding of human embryo and IVF research (US Congress 1988; Harris 2006; Green 2010).
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Geography, Planning and Development
- Public Administration
- Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
