Embryonic Stem Cell Research Oversight Committees
The National Academies called for the establishment of Embryonic Stem Cell Research Oversight (ESCRO) Committees in its 2005 "Guidelines for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research" to manage the ethical and legal concerns in human embryonic stem cell research. Because of the complexity and novelty of many of the issues involved in that research, the Guidelines committee believes that all research institutions engaged in human embryonic stem cell research should create and maintain these committees at the local level.
Embryoid body
ESCs are the subject of much public debate due to the ethical questions arising from the derivation from blastocyst-stage of development, necessitating the destruction of the embryo. Although much early EB research was conducted using ESCs derived from mouse sources, cell lines derived from human sources are necessary to fulfill the clinical promise of ESCs. While current U.S. regulations, initiated by the executive order of President Barack Obama in 2009 allow federal funding for hESC lines that are approved by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the derivation of new hESC lines using federal funding is prohibited by the Dickey-Wicker Amendment. However, due to the association of EB research with ESCs, the long term outcomes of EB research may be subject to regulation by local or federal policy changes. EBs however, are amenable to the use of alternative pluripotent cell sources, such as iPS cells, which holds promise for future applications in three-dimensional stem cell differentiation.