How NIH ending funding for human fetal tissue research could affect studies
ABC News
Scientists worry the NIH banning funding for human fetal tissue research could prevent the development of life-saving therapies.
Last week, the Trump administration announced it was banning the use of human fetal tissue from some abortions in federally funded medical research.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) said the policy would go into effect immediately and advance "science by investing in breakthrough technologies more capable of modeling human health and disease," NIH director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement.
Scientists told ABC News that research using human fetal tissue has contributed to understanding diseases better, such as HIV and Ebola, and helped in the development of some vaccines and drugs.
Some scientists worry the ban could prevent groundbreaking discoveries about the behaviors of certain diseases and stop the development of life-saving therapies.
"It's not a scientific decision," Dr. Lawrence Goldstein, a professor emeritus of cellular and molecular medicine at the University of California, San Diego, told ABC News. "It's a moral decision that places the rights of fetal tissue that would be discarded above the rights of sick people who will benefit from that research."
