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Thursday, 07/19/01 Frist's stem cell research proposal U.S. Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., says the following 10 principles are essential for allowing research on stem cells removed from human embryos to proceed in an ethically and scientifically responsible manner: 1. The creation of human embryos solely for research purposes should be strictly prohibited. 2. The process by which stem cells are removed from the embryo should not be supported by federal funds, because that procedure causes destruction of the embryo. Federal funding should be allowed, however, for research conducted on stem cells that have already been isolated and are growing in the laboratory. 3. Human cloning should be prohibited ''to prevent the creation and exploitation of life for research purposes.'' 4. Federal funding for research on adult stem cells, for example, those removed from the bone marrow of patients, should be increased ''to ensure the pursuit of all promising areas of stem cell research.'' 5. Federal funding should be allowed only for research using human embryos that are left over from in vitro fertilization and would otherwise be discarded. 6. A comprehensive, informed consent process should be required, to be sure that couples are fully informed of their options to discard embryos left over after in vitro fertilization, give them to another infertile couple, or donate them for research purposes. 7. The number of stem cell ''lines'' grown in the laboratory should be restricted to provide another safeguard to prevent the commercial exploitation of human embryos. 8. A national research registry should be established to ensure in-depth monitoring of the research and ''promote ethical, high quality research standards.'' 9. Continuing scientific review of the research should occur, and an independent, presidential advisory panel should be established ''to monitor evolving bioethical issues in the area of stem cell research.'' 10. These rules should be consistent with regulation of other federally funded fetal tissue research. SOURCE: The Tennessean http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/01/04/06725049.shtml?Element_ID=6725049 * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn