Current Federal Law and Policy 
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leam the skills and techniques of culturing human embryonic 
stem cells. 
The latter task, of training new researchers, the NIH re- 
gards as one of its principal challenges in advancing the field, 
and, along with available lines and available financial re- 
sources, as a key measure of how the field is progressing. As 
NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni put it in his presentation before 
this Council, 
I don’t think the limiting factor is the cell lines. I really 
don’t. I really think the limiting factor is human capital and 
trained human capital that can quickly evaluate a v\hde 
range of research avenues in stem cells 
The NIH has therefore devoted funding to the training of in- 
vestigators and the cultivation of career development path- 
ways, including short-term courses in stem cell culture tech- 
niques and (long-term) career enhancement awards in the 
field. Some critics have contended, however, that the two 
issues (funding restrictions and the scarcity of personnel) are 
likely connected, and that limits on the cell lines eligible for 
funding and the surrounding political controversy cause some 
potential researchers to stay away from the field, contributing 
to a shortage of investigators.^® 
These federal resources, then, have been directed toward 
the advancement of human embryonic stem cell research 
within the bounds of the determination to refrain from support- 
ing or funding new destruction of human embryos. Scientists 
may receive federal funding — at any level determined appro- 
priate by the NIH — ^for any sort of meritorious research, using 
as many of the approved lines as they are eventually able to 
use. 'They can, of course, also receive federal funding for using 
or deriving new animal embryonic stem cell lines, to assess 
the potential of these cells for treatment of animal models of 
human disease (though of course animal models provide only 
limited information because they are not in many cases exactly 
extrapolatable to the specific situations that hold in human 
disease and development, and so cannot replace human cell 
sources). 
PRE -PUBLIC ATION VERSION 
