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 laws
China prohibits human reproductive cloning but allows the creation of human embryos for research and therapeutic purposes. India banned in 2004 reproductive cloning, permitted therapeutic cloning. In 2004, Japan’s Council for Science and Technology Policy voted to allow scientists to conduct stem cell research for therapeutic purposes, though formal guidelines have yet to be released. The South Korean government promotes therapeutic cloning, but forbids cloning. The Philippines prohibits human embryonic and aborted human fetal stem cells and their derivatives for human treatment
and research. In 1999, Israel passed legislation banning reproductive, but not therapeutic, cloning. Saudi Arabia religious officials issued a decree that sanctions the use of embryos for therapeutic and research purposes. According to the Royan Institute for Reproductive Biomedicine, Iran has some of the most liberal laws on stem cell research and cloning. Laws and regulations in Jordan allow stem-cell research. A center for stem cell research has acquired a license to begin operating in April 2017 at the University of Jordan.