Stem cell rule riles critics

SAN FRANCISCO - Scientists from around the country charged with proposing medical and ethical standards for California's stem cell research program Wednesday criticized one of the few ethical rules already firmly in place.

That rule, written into the law that created the $3 billion stem cell research fund, prohibits the state from paying women for donating the eggs needed to generate human embryonic stem cells.


"I don't know why you put (yourselves) in a position to not compensate for time and effort," said Jose Cibelli, a stem cell researcher at Michigan State University. "It's something you will come to regret."
Ann Kiessling, a Harvard University biologist who runs an independent, nonprofit center that solicits egg donors specifically for stem cell research, predicted that some women who wish to provide eggs will be unable to if, for example, they aren't reimbursed for lost wages.

"All normal, healthy subjects that undergo any research in this country are compensated for their time," she said.

The comments came at the first meeting of the Scientific and Medical Accountability Standards Working Group, one of three...