The administration of president Donald Trump re-accelerates the course towards technological research, which has been controversial in the planet of politics, ethics and medicine for years. The National wellness Institutes (NIH) have announced that 17 investigation grants – which full $22 million – will not be extended. Reason? They utilized tissues taken from the bodies of aborted children.
The debate on the survey of embryonic tissues of children dates back to decades. In 2015, the recordings of investigator David Daleiden, who revealed the practices of organ trafficking taken from the bodies of the aborted children by Planned Parenthood, echoed loudly. These paintings have shaken public opinion, and investigation opponents have called them “a cover for a gruesome business”.
The experimenters then argued that it was the fetus tissue of the kid that was “indispensable” in the improvement of fresh therapies. However, after more than a 100 years of research, it was impossible to identify even 1 drug that was produced by the transplantation of human foetuses.
"This is not science, but a dead end, whose costs are borne by taxpayers," the opponents of this practice emphasize.
Policy return
In June 2019, Trump's administration cancelled a large investigation contract, and a year later, the appointed Ethics Advisory Board rejected almost all fresh applications for grants for foetal tissue research. At that time, 1 of the fourteen applications gained conditional support – the remainder was considered to be against ethical principles.
The change came along with president Joe Biden, whose administration abolished restrictions, dissolved the Ethics Council and opened up a stream of national money for scientists. The then wellness Secretary, Xavier Becerra, argued that “there are no fresh ethical issues” requiring additional assessment.
Today, the shuttle is leaning the another way again. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., current HHS secretary, declared to legislature that the backing of investigation on the tissues of aborted human fetuses was coming to an end:
"We can conduct investigation based on umbilical cells or adult stem cells. There is no request to scope for the tissues of children killed as a consequence of abortion" - he stressed.
Policies, ethics and alternatives
Trump's fresh administration line meets with support in Congress. The draft budgetary bill for medical investigation included a provision prohibiting the usage of taxpayers' funds for experiments utilizing the tissues of human foetuses. In addition, the H.R. 5160 Act, which is supported by both Republicans and Democrats, is being passed. It involves supporting investigation into adult stem cells – those that are already utilized to treat more than 75 life-threatening diseases, from leukemia to severe autoimmune diseases.
"Ethical discipline is not a slogan, but a necessity. If something doesn't work and at the same time raises specified serious moral doubts – there's no point in financing it," Senator Josh Hawley said during the hearings.
What's next?
NIH's decision is simply a strong signal that the policy of biomedical investigation in the US is entering fresh tracks again. It is simply a moral and applicable triumph – no more “the waste of taxpayers' money for investigation without a future”.
One thing is certain: the dispute over the boundaries of discipline and ethics will not end quickly. However, the current direction of administration clearly shows that the era of experiments on the tissues of aborted human fetuses in the US is approaching the end.
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Source: Life News
