The National Institutes of Health (NIH) released a list of ten groups today who possess the 64 stem cell colonies that the Bush administration has deemed eligible for federal research funding. The groups, four of which are in the United States and six others in Australia, India, and Israel have told the NIH they will make their colonies available to other researchers. Scientists had begun to doubt the actual number of stem cell colonies in existence, after only 12 were identified in scientific literature. Questions still remain about the quality of those lines. The NIH is now preparing a registry, which will detail the location and availability of the 64 cell colonies. Despite recent efforts by the Bush administration to clarify details on the new stem cell policy, scientists continue to criticize the decision, citing concerns about the types of restrictions that may be imposed on their work and about assumptions made by the Bush administration regarding the availability of embryos that can be used to extract stem cells.
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