HHS Launches Review of Fetal Tissue Research

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a statement on September 24, 2018 announcing that it has launched a review of all research and acquisitions involving human fetal tissue. The agency, which funds through the National Institutes of Health a significant portion of U.S. biomedical research, indicated that it will look into adequate alternatives to the use of human fetal tissue in HHS funded research and will ensure that efforts to develop such alternatives are funded. According to the statement, “HHS has initiated a comprehensive review of all research involving fetal tissue to ensure consistency with statutes and regulations governing such research, and to ensure the adequacy of procedures and oversight of this research in light of the serious regulatory, moral, and ethical considerations involved.” HHS has also terminated a contract with the company Advanced Bioscience Resources (ABR) of Alameda, California, which supplied fetal tissue to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for drug-testing research. HHS cancelled the contract because it was “not sufficiently assured that the contract included the appropriate protections applicable to fetal tissue research or met all other procurement requirements.” FDA had awarded a one-year contract to ABR in July 2018. Under the contract, the fetal tissue supplied by ABR would be implanted by FDA researchers into mice that lacked immune systems in order to develop human-like immune syste...
Source: Public Policy Reports - Category: Biology Authors: Source Type: news