Currently, all forms of stem cell research in the U.S. are legal at the federal level. That is, it is not illegal to make or work with new embryonic stem cell lines. However, the use of federal funds for human embryonic stem cell research is restricted to the cell lines that were available as of August 9, 2001. Therefore, the derivation of new embryonic stem cell lines can only occur when scientists are working with non-federal funding. Some states and private foundations have been supporting this work. Some requirements of federal law, such as human subjects protections, apply to state- and privately funded stem cell research. For a complete discussion of the mechanisms for oversight of stem cell research, see the National Academies’ report Guidelines for
Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research.
It is legal to conduct research using blastocysts and to derive new cell lines in most states, with some exceptions. Because stem cell legislation is an area of active debate, please visit the National Conference of State Legislatures at http://www.ncsl.org/programs/health/genetics/embfet.htm to learn about the laws in a particular state.
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