Scientists who research embryonic stem cells may face increased regulations under new guidelines announced Tuesday by the National Academy of Sciences.

Due to minimal federal oversight of the contentious research because of limited federal funding, the scientific community requested national guidelines to ease public concern and the academy responded with a 240-page document of recommended rules.

“Human embryonic stem cell research is very important but also very controversial,” National Academy of Sciences President Bruce Albert said in a teleconference Tuesday. “In light of the controversy … many scientists believe that the scientific community must voluntarily commit to conduct embryonic stem-cell research in a responsible way.”

The new guidelines recommend that Embryonic Stem Cell Research Committees be established for a variety of overseeing processes. A committee should review and approve proposals for any research involving therapeutic cloning, the creation of new stem cell lines and the generation of stem cells from human blastocysts, according to the new policy recommendations.

The academy’s guidelines also recommend that human embryonic stem cells be inserted into nonhuman animals “only under circumstances where no other experiment can provide the information needed.”

Two University of Wisconsin professors are members of the Committee on Guidelines for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research and participated in the formation of the new guidelines. UW professors of bioethics Alta Charo and Norman Fost both volunteered to participate in the formation of the rules, which they hope will promote ethical stem cell research.

Fost said this is the first type of national guidelines issued in regard to stem cells, mostly because of the Bush Administration’s decision in 2001 to restrict federal funding to stem-cell lines created prior to September of that year.

“[The guidelines are] needed because stem cell research is expanding rapidly despite low levels of federal funding,” Fost said. “There is a lot of institutional collaboration around the world … and I think the National Academy thought it would be helpful to reassure the public that this wasn’t happening in a completely unregulated way.”

The public wants federal oversight, he added.

Charo said the new guidelines probably will not hurt UW stem cell research because the university already has a strict bioethics advisory committee in place. The committee exists to advise the dean of the graduate school on research policies for the Madison campus, and this includes a policy on stem cell research, according to Charo.

“[UW’s] committee guidelines basically are quite similar to the national academies — UW has been [following the guidelines] from the beginning anyway,” Charo said.

The university committee guidelines say that mixing human and non-human materials requires review on a case-to-case basis to ensure protocols have been reviewed and animal welfare and public safety have been taken into account, Charo said.

UW Research Communications Director Terry Devitt agreed the new guidelines are similar to UW’s, stating the university has always had “very strong” programs in bioethics and medical ethics, which have helped to develop the kind of rules that result in an ethical and responsible way to conduct stem-cell research.

The university is home to prominent stem cell researcher James Thompson, who first achieved the feat of culturing embryonic stem cells in 1998. Thompson’s pioneering in the field of stem cell research initiated interest in such ethical regulation of the controversial science, and Devitt said UW has been “very comfortable” with protocols since then.

“We’ve gone above and beyond what was required,” Devitt said. “The new national guidelines are important and they’ll certainly help continue to guide practice at UW.”

Though the university has not issued a formal statement on how the new national guidelines will affect UW, Devitt agreed with Charo that they would not affect UW.

“My understanding of the new guidelines is that they mirror practices already in place at UW and if they were to be implemented or adopted by the campus, they would have no impact because … they are pretty much in sync with our practices at UW,” Devitt said.

The creation of two new stem-cell programs at UW illustrates the university’s strong role in the stem cell research field. UW professor of anatomy and neurology Clive Svendsen announced at a meeting of stem-cell researchers Tuesday that a new regenerative medicine program and an interdisciplinary postdoctoral training program will further advance stem cell research at the university.

The regenerative medicine program will be supported $700,000 a year for the next four years under a grant from the Wisconsin Partnership Fund, according to a release.

Another grant from the National Institutes of Health for $1 million will support the postdoctoral program.

“These two programs will provide vital infrastructure to keep UW … at the forefront of stem-cell research,” Svendsen said in an e-mail.