Ethics and Society: US public policy on embryo research: two steps forward, one large step back

This article gives an overview of the final report of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Embryo Research Panel, which was issued on September 27, 1994 (NIH, 1994). The report was endorsed unanimously by the Advisory Committee to the Director of the NIH, Harold Varmus, on December 2, 1994. A few hours later, President Clinton (Marshall, 1994) issued a statement announcing that he did ‘not believe that federal funds should be used to support the creation of human embryos for research purposes’, and that he had directed the NIH not to support such research, which was one of the areas of research recommended for Federal funding by the Panel. At present, Dr Varmus is in the process of considering the Panel's report and shaping guidelines to govern the review and conduct of human embryo research. Any guidelines will be published in the Federal Register for comment at a later date. As a result of changes brought about by Congress in 1993, Federal support for research focused on in-vitro fertilization (IVF) could go forward. This represented the first advance in research freedom in the Federal sector to study approaches to IVF. It will involve the NIH in peer review and scientific activities regarding IVF. Assuming that Dr Varmus develops guidelines to support human embryo research limited to use of ‘spare’ embryos only and perhaps parthenogenotes, a second step will have been taken. My view about the context and meaning of the President's decision, which is nonetheless a decided step to the rear, appears in the final part.