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Number 2, July 2009

• Scientists all over the world donate for freedom of research in Italy. The Italian government has decided to arbitrarily exclude human embryonic stem cells from an 8-million euro fund for stem-cell biology (see Nature and Science). In concert with professor Elena Cattaneo, Elisabetta Cerbai and Silvia Garagna, Luca Coscioni Association has launched an appeal to raise funds aimed at covering part of the legal expenses of the Italian scientists appealing against that exclusion (see the chronology of the action). Since the beginning of the appeal (July 7) 5.410,79 euro out of 6.000,00 (cost of first judgment degree) have already been raised. Almost 70 researchers, academicians and private citizens have promptly donated to this campaign from all over the world. Anyone can donate for this cause on line. Keep posted through the World Congress website.

• Russian manipulation of historical research. Last May 15, a decree issued by the President of the Russian Federation set up a “Commission for contrasting the attempts of history forgery against Russian interests”. Last June 23, V. A. Tiškov, Vice Secretary Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, signed a memorandum in pursuance of the presidential decree. In the document, the “Section of Historical and Philological Science of the Russian Academy of Sciences executives” are asked a “list of historical and cultural falsifications in the fields that correspond to the main research area of your department (mentioning the key sources, the individuals or organizations that produce and spread each falsification, the potential danger of that falsification for Russian interests, the preliminary proposals for the scientific confutation of the falsification)”. Blogstoria has launched a Petition (in Italian and in English) for the freedom of historical research and against that attempt of censorship. Anyone is invited to read and sign here

• NIH Guidelines on Human Embryonic Stem Cell. Last July 7 the National Institutes of Health (NIH) published their final "Guidelines for Human Stem Cell Research", implementing Obama’s Executive Order 13505 (“Removing Barriers to Responsible Scientific Research Involving Human Stem Cells”). In April NIH had launched a public consultation on their draft Guidelines and received  49,000 comments. Researchers mainly complained about the proposed retroactivity of the draft guidelines – which would have excluded from funding several ongoing projects - and the provision of nine-fold informed consent by donors. According to the final Guidelines, research on human embryonic stem cells is eligible provided that the embryos were created using in vitro fertilization for reproductive purposes and were no longer needed for this purpose; that they were donated by individuals who sought reproductive treatment and who gave seven-fold voluntary written consent for the human embryos to be used for research purposes. Research using hESCs derived from other sources, including somatic cell nuclear transfer, parthenogenesis, and/or IVF embryos created for research purposes, is still not eligible for NIH funding. On May 26 Luca Coscioni Association had submitted its own comments, mainly to amend that issue.

• UNESCO: on human cloning further dialogue is needed. The sixth session of the Intergovernmental Bioethics Committee (IGBC) was held at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 9 and 10 July 2009. IGBC examined the Report of the experts’ committee on Human Cloning and International Governance, concurring that “an international dialogue on the international governance of human cloning is needed and should be pursued” and supporting the assessment that “an in-depth analysis aiming at reviewing the terminology for human cloning according to the new developments in biomedical research would be highly beneficial”. More conclusions are available on line.

News in brief:

• (World) Tumors After Attempted Stem Cell Therapy Highlight Importance of Rigorous Standards Before Clinical Treatment. ISSCR calls for adherence to recent guidelines

• (Iran) AWID Statement on the Arbitrary Detention of Women's Human Rights Defender Shadi Sadr by Iranian Authorities

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