Empire State will pay for human eggs for research use

According to The Scientist, the Empire State Stem Cell Board determined last week that it's ethical to pay women to obtain eggs for use in stem-cell research.

The ESSCB points to the practice of paying women who donate eggs for reproductive purposes, which is not prohibited under New York law, and argues that donation for research purposes is not meaningfully different from that practice. You can read the ethics board's statement here.

An interesting difference in this case, however, compared with the reproductive instance, is that ESSCB will be using taxpayer funds to buy eggs. (Yeah, yeah, they're careful to say they're not buying eggs ... they're paying donors. Anybody buy that distinction?)

Embryonic Stem Cell Trials in Humans Could Begin in Months

If all goes as planned, a California biotech firm will begin human testing using human-based embryonic stem cells by Spring of 2008.

Dr. Thomas Okarma, CEO of Geron, said the firm plans to conduct embryonic stem-cell studies in subjects with spinal cord injuries, involving up to 40 patients. The planning, of course, is pending the greenlight to proceed from the FDA, which is said to be setting a "high bar" on regulations governing what is certain to be one of the most significant pioneering research procedures of the century. Economic analysts predict the regulatory process alone will be daunting, and time-consuming because these are uncharted waters. It will be the first time that the FDA reviews a human embryonic stem-cell application.

Controversy has raged on both sides over the debate of stem cells and the ethical use in human therapeutic applications. In 2001 President Bush placed limits on federal funding of experiments involving then-existing human-derived stem cell lines, and in 2007 vetoed an attempt by Congress to lift those restrictions. No doubt the impending research will only raise more ire, questions and a major regulatory conundrum of the likes never witnessed before.