Most assumed that embryonic stem cell research fell under this ban, so federal funding for the work dried up. The ban didn't prevent private companies from engaging in stem cell studies, though. The next step would be to prod these cells into differentiating into specialized tissues, such as muscle for ailing hearts, or insulin-producing pancreas tissue for diabetics. While such applications may be years off, their vast potential for improving human health generated renewed excitement for the field, and increased calls for the lifting of the federal ban. Given the moral delicacy of the research, some suggested that it would be better off under government supervision.
Private companies are less accountable for what they do than government-funded researchers.
Shortly after the Geron announcement, lawyers at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services began scrutinizing the 1996 legislation to confirm that it indeed applied to embryonic stem cell work. In January 1999, government health officials ruled that the research did not actually fall within the legal reach of the ban. The wording of the ban narrowly defines an embryo as an organism capable of developing into a human being if implanted in a woman's womb. Strictly speaking, stem cells are not embryos, even though they are derived from them. Neither are they capable of developing into functional human beings.