Stem cell laws and policy in the United States
In May 2005, the House of Representatives voted 238-194 to loosen the limitations on federally funded embryonic stem-cell research — by allowing government-funded research on surplus frozen embryos from in vitro fertilization clinics to be used for stem cell research with the permission of donors — despite Bush's promise to veto if passed.  On July 29, 2005, Senate Majority Leader William H. Frist (R-TN), announced that he too favored loosening restrictions on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. On July 18, 2006, the Senate passed three different bills concerning stem cell research. The Senate passed the first bill, 63-37, which would have made it legal for the Federal government to spend Federal money on embryonic stem cell research that uses embryos left over from "in vitro" fertilization procedures. On July 19, 2006 President Bush vetoed this bill. The second bill makes it illegal to create, grow, and abort fetuses for research purposes. The third bill would encourage research that would isolate pluripotent, i.e., embryonic-like, stem cells without the destruction of human embryos.
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.