Science: In wake of Trump’s fetal tissue clampdown, scientists strain to adjust
“…The new Trump policy, issued 5 June after a 9-month review led by officials at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has three major components. One kills a long-standing contract between the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, and the University of California (UC), San Francisco, under which the university used fetal tissue to develop humanized mice for HIV drug testing. Another ends research using fetal tissue conducted by any scientist directly employed by NIH. The third and widest-reaching provision adds a lengthy and uncertain step to NIH’s process for awarding new or renewal grants to university scientists … for studies that use human fetal tissue. … Enacting the new policy ‘was the president’s decision … to protect the dignity of human life,’ Judd Deere, deputy White House press secretary, told Science. … Many biomedical researchers were stunned, noting that the tissue, which would otherwise be discarded, has properties that make it valuable for research…” (Wadman/Kaiser, 6/11).