Presidential Documents

34591 

Federal Register 

Vol. 72, No. 120 

Friday, June 22, 2007 

Title 3— 

The President 

Executive Order 13435 of June 20, 2007 

Expanding Approved Stem Cell Lines in Ethically 

Responsible Ways 

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the 

laws of the United States of America, and to provide leadership with respect 

to research on pluripotent stem cells derived by ethically responsible techniques so that the potential of pluripotent stem cells can be explored without 

violating human dignity or demeaning human life, it is hereby ordered 

as follows: 

Section 1. Research on Alternative Sources of Pluripotent Stem Cells. (a) 

The Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary) shall conduct and 

support research on the isolation, derivation, production, and testing of 

stem cells that are capable of producing all or almost all of the cell types 

of the developing body and may result in improved understanding of or 

treatments for diseases and other adverse health conditions, but are derived 

without creating a human embryo for research purposes or destroying, discarding, or subjecting to harm a human embryo or fetus. 

(b) Within 90 days of this order, the Secretary, after such consultation 

with the Director of the National Institutes of Health (Director), shall issue 

a plan, including such mechanisms as requests for proposals, requests for 

applications, program announcements and other appropriate means, to implement subsection (a) of this section, that: 

(i) specifies and reflects a determination of the extent to which specific 

techniques may require additional basic or animal research to ensure 

that any research involving human cells using these techniques is clearly 

consistent with the standards established under this order and applicable 

law; 

(ii) prioritizes research with the greatest potential for clinical benefit; 

(iii) takes into account techniques outlined by the President’s Council 

on Bioethics, and any other appropriate techniques and research, provided 

they clearly meet the standard set forth in subsection (a) of this section; 

(iv) renames the ‘‘Human Embryonic Stem Cell Registry’’ the ‘‘Human 

Pluripotent Stem Cell Registry;’’ and 

(v) adds to the registry new human pluripotent stem cell lines that clearly 

meet the standard set forth in subsection (a) of this section. 

(c) Not later than December 31 of each year, the Secretary shall report 

to the President on the activities carried out under this order during the 

past fiscal year, including a description of the research carried out or supported by the Department of Health and Human Services, including the 

National Institutes of Health, and other developments in the science of 

pluripotent stem cells not derived from human embryos. 

Sec. 2. Policy. The activities undertaken and supported by and under the 

direction of the Secretary shall be clearly consistent with the following 

policies and principles: 

(a) the purposes of this order are (i) to direct the Department of Health 

and Human Services, including the National Institutes of Health, to intensify 

peer reviewed research that may result in improved understanding of or 

treatments for diseases and other adverse health conditions, and (ii) to 

promote the derivation of human pluripotent stem cell lines from a variety 


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of alternative sources while clearly meeting the standard set forth in section 

1(a) of this order; 

(b) it is critical to establish moral and ethical boundaries to allow the 

Nation to move forward vigorously with medical research, while also maintaining the highest ethical standards and respecting human life and human 

dignity; 

(c) the destruction of nascent life for research violates the principle that 

no life should be used as a mere means for achieving the medical benefit 

of another; 

(d) human embryos and fetuses, as living members of the human species, 

are not raw materials to be exploited or commodities to be bought and 

sold; and 

(e) the Federal Government has a duty to exercise responsible stewardship 

of taxpayer funds, both supporting important medical research and respecting 

ethical and moral boundaries. 

Sec. 3. Interpretation of this Order. (a) For purposes of this order, the 

term ‘‘human embryo’’ shall mean any organism, not protected as a human 

subject under 45 CFR 46 as of the date of this order, that is derived by 

fertilization, parthenogenesis, cloning, or any other means from one or more 

human gametes or human diploid cells. 

(b) For purposes of this order, the term ‘‘subjecting to harm a human embryo’’

shall mean subjecting such an embryo to risk of injury or death greater 

than that allowed for research on fetuses in utero under 45 CFR 46.204(b) 

and section 498(b) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 289g(b)) 

as of the date of this order. 

(c) Nothing in this order shall be construed to affect any policy, guideline, 

or regulation regarding embryonic stem cell research, human cloning by 

somatic cell nuclear transfer, or any other research not specifically authorized 

by this order, or to forbid the use of existing stem cell lines deemed eligible 

for other federally funded research in accordance with the presidential policy 

decision of August 9, 2001, for research specifically authorized by this 

order. 

Sec. 4. General Provisions. (a) This order shall be implemented consistent 

with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations. 


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(b) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right, benefit, 

or privilege, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity, 

by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, 

its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person. 

THE WHITE HOUSE, 

June 20, 2007. 

[FR Doc. 07–3112 

Filed 6–21–07; 11:09 am] 

Billing code 3195–01–P 


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