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Toronto scientists Drs. James Till, a biophysicist, and Ernest McCulloch, a haematologist, published accidental findings in “Radiation Research” that proved the existence of stem cells – cells that can self-renew repeatedly for various uses. Both worked for the Ontario Cancer Institute (OCI) at the time.
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The National Research Act established the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to define policy for protection of human subjects during medical and/or scientific experiments.
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Guidelines establish an Ethics Advisory Board for fetal and fetal tissue research that originate from abortions.
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President Ronald Reagan decides not to renew the Ethics Advisory Board’s charter. The EAB had recommended federally funded investigations into the safety of in vitro fertilization using human embryos developed in vitro for no more than 14 days, but a de facto moratorium halts federal funding of human embryo research due to the EAB’s disbanding.
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Human Fetal Tissue Transplantation Research Panel reopens the question and votes 18-3 to approve the federal funding of embryo research. Despite this level of support for the research, the Department of Health and Human Services accepts the testimony of three conservative dissenters who argue that embryonic research would lead to an increase in abortions, and in response, extends the moratorium on this research.
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University of Wisconsin scientist James Thomson isolates human embryonic stem cells and shows their potential to rejuvenate and to specialize into tissues. This discovery also initiates the ethical debate on human embryonic stem cell research because his team derives the stem cells through a process that destroys human embryos.
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NIH Director Harold Varmus receives a legal opinion from DHHS general council Harriet Rabb. Rabb finds that the Dickey-Wicker amendment does not apply to federal funding for research on embryonic stem cells because the cells do not meet the statutory definition of an embryo. The cells, however, would have to be derived with private funding.
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Harold Varmus appoints an oversight committee to draft guidelines for federally funding embryonic stem cells. The committee includes scientists, clinicians, ethicists, lawyers, patients, and patent advocates.
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NIH Guidelines for Research Using Human Pluripotent Stem Cells are published in the Federal Register over the summer and go into effect. They stipulate: human embryonic stem cells must be derived with private funds from frozen embryos from fertility clinics; they must have been created for fertility treatment purposes; be in excess of the donor’s clinical need; and obtained with the consent of the donor. These guidelines also outlawed the federal funding of stem cells derived from embryos create
