U.S. Aid for Fetal Tissue Research Urged
A National Institutes of Health advisory committee recommended Wednesday that the organization lift its nine-month ban on federal funds for fetal tissue research.
The committee unanimously accepted a report that said the research using fetal tissue from voluntarily induced abortions is morally acceptable in light of the legality of abortion and the possible medical benefits that such research may bring.
Anti-abortionists actively oppose such research but scientists have said that transplantation of fetal tissue has shown tremendous promise in treating such serious illnesses as juvenile diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease and possibly Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr. Robert E. Windom, assistant secretary for health, imposed the temporary moratorium on federal funds for fetal research last April. Windom called on Dr. James B. Wyngaarden, NIH director, to convene an outside panel of experts “to consider whether current research procedures are adequate for the appropriate ethical, legal and scientific use of tissue” from induced abortions.
Wyngaarden and his 26-member advisory committee accepted the outside panel’s recommendations Wednesday without making any significant changes. Wyngaarden will forward the report to Windom by Jan. 9. Windom will then decide whether to lift the moratorium.
“I’m really pleased this (issue) has come out with such a clear majority,” Wyngaarden said during the meeting, adding that he hopes Windom will act on the recommendations before he leaves office Jan. 20.
The recommendation to lift the ban appears to be directly at odds with the Reagan Administration, which in September considered issuing an executive order that would prohibit any federal funding for fetal tissue research. Such an order would override any decision made by the Department of Health and Human Services, of which the NIH is a part.
The possibility of an executive order weighed on the mind of one member of the advisory committee, Dr. John T. Flynn, a professor at the University of Miami Medical School, who suggested that the committee reconsider its timing. “Politically, is it appropriate for us to make this recommendation at this time?” he asked.
But the committee quickly rejected any delay. “I don’t view our role here in any way as political,” said Dr. Bernadine Healy, head of research at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. “Our role is to render professional advice.”
Because the moratorium has affected only federally funded research projects, privately funded projects are continuing. In September, researchers reported that they were able to transplant human fetal immune system cells into mice, a development significant to AIDS research.
The accepted report seeks to separate a woman’s decision to have an abortion and her decision to donate fetal tissues for research.
However, right-to-life groups have continuously opposed any fetal tissue research because, they say, the tissue is obtained from an “immoral” action and therefore is “contaminated,” no matter what distinctions are drawn.
Seeking to discount any incentive that a woman may have to become pregnant specifically for the purpose of providing fetal tissue, the report calls for guidelines that would prevent any “commercialization” of fetal tissue donations. It recommends that “payments and other forms of remuneration . . . associated with the procurement of fetal tissue should be prohibited.”
The report also recommends that the fetal tissue not be used without the pregnant woman’s permission.
