New US stem cell rules loosen some restrictions

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government released final rules on Monday governing federally funded research on human embryonic stem cells, loosening some requirements that scientists said could have cost them a decade of work. But the new rules, which take effect on Tuesday, keep many of the restrictions on the research. U.S. federal funds may not be used to actually make the cells using human embryos — only to work with them after someone else has made them. But the National Institutes of Health agreed with arguments that proposed regulations…

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