“It reflects how far the US has fallen behind its competitors in this pivotal area and how much the lack of federal leadership has handicapped US efforts,” allege Dr Robert Lanza, vice president for medical and scientific development of Advanced Cell Technology, and Professor Ronald Green, director of Dartmouth’s Ethics Institute and chair of Advanced Cell Technology’s ethics advisory board, writing in the scientific journal Nature.
The current administration’s restrictive policy has impacted Advanced Cell Technology’s own program to produce human embryos through somatic cell nuclear transfer, Lanza and Green state. “We believe the South Koreans are winning the race, because in our view (the current administration’s) restrictive policy on funding stem cell research was a major factor.”
Dr Green goes on to point out that the current absence of a strong US competitor to the South Koreans in stem cell research is likely to constrict the variety of directions likely to be explored. Adding that forcing the research out of the US makes it more difficult to “apply rigorous ethical oversight”.