NIH stemcell guidelines

The National Institute of Health has generously invited public comment on its Human Stem Cell Research guidelines
http://stemcells.nih.gov/policy/2009draft.htm

I offer the following:

I am a person with Parkinson’s Disease. I am aware of the claims that have been made for embryonic research, but I urge the NIH to stand by its proposed guidelines, which are ethically and economically cautious. NIH must promote research with the fewest ethical quandaries and the most efficiency, therefore funding for adult and induced pluripotent stem cell research should be robust. The prohibitions listed in sections III and IV are reasonable and humane, and should not be altered. To create embryos for the purpose of experimentation remains objectionable--the restrictions of the Dickey-Wicker Amendment should be retained. Groups like the Parkinson’s Action Network consider SCNT and parthenogenesis "promising," but research that depends on an abundance of human eggs will inevitably exploit vulnerable women. Cures developed from IVF or cloned embryos would be unacceptable to many of us in the Parkinson’s community for safety as well as ethical reasons. Again, please DO NOT relax the guidelines. Especially as iPSC research becomes increasingly auspicious, extravagant embryo research seems less and less justifiable.

http://www.news-medical.net/?id=46608
http://www.hematology.org/media/04202009.cfm