The letter, addressed to President-elect Joseph Biden by a coalition of leading scientific, medical, and patient advocacy organizations, urges the incoming administration to swiftly rescind the restrictive policies on human fetal tissue (HFT) research instituted by the Department of Health and Human Services in 2019. The signatories assert that these restrictions have severely impeded both intramural and extramural biomedical research, hindering the development of treatments for serious diseases, including but not limited to COVID-19, ALS, spinal cord injury, and Parkinson’s disease. The organizations emphasize that HFT has uniquely valuable biological properties critical for advancing medical knowledge, therapeutic development, and understanding of human disease and development—contributions that cannot be fully replicated by alternative methods or cell types.
Additionally, the coalition highlights the long-standing ethical and legal frameworks that have historically governed HFT research, noting their robustness in ensuring scientific merit and compliance without profiteering. The letter calls for the immediate revocation of the 2019 policy changes and a restoration of the previous peer review and approval processes to remove unnecessary barriers to scientific progress. Furthermore, the signatories advocate for an independent expert review to affirm the scientific and ethical merits of HFT research, referencing previous unpublicized assessments conducted during the prior administration. Ultimately, the letter conveys strong support for the Biden administration’s commitment to evidence-based policymaking and urges collaboration to restore and advance biomedical research that serves public health.
