Position Statements

Moratorium On Cloning Of Human Beings
(September, 1997) SDB Members declare voluntary moratorium on cloning of human beings. About 25% of the members responded to the referendum and of these 93% said YES to the voluntary moratorium, 6% said NO and 0.2% abstained. We thank all members who took the time to send in their position and comments on this important issue. Please note that many of your comments have been incorporated into the background statement text.
The Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology (FASEB) subsequently adopted, unanimously, the resolution at the Public Affairs Executive Committee meeting and released a statement.

Statement from the Society for Developmental Biology (SDB) Board of Trustees on President Bush's Decision on Federal Funding for Limited Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research.

The SDB Board of Trustees is appreciative of President George W. Bush's decision to allow federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research on a limited basis. While the Board welcomes this opportunity given to scientists to investigate the potential and limitations of human embryonic stem cells, it has serious reservations on the extent of information that can be transferred to clinical applications obtained from studies restricted to the "existing sixty cell lines." The Board supports the establishment of a Presidential Council to oversee the ethical and research aspects, and recommends models such as the Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) and the UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).

August 16, 2001