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.
Stem cell research policy
Researchers, ethicists and assorted spokespersons from 14 different countries have published a set of legal and ethical guidelines relating to stem cell research, in an effort to address conflicting international laws in this area. The ‘Hinxton Group’ met recently for the first time, in Cambridge, and published a consensus statement calling for a ‘flexible’ regulatory framework, which can simultaneously accommodate rapid scientific advance and at the same time accommodate the diversity of international approaches towards stem cell science. It also recommends that, in countries which oppose embryonic stem cell research, scientists should be free to pursue their research elsewhere.