As the 2008 World Stem Cell Summit was scheduled to meet in Madison this week, new questions were raised about whether consent to use embryos left over from fertility clinics in stem-cell research was ever properly obtained.
The Wisconsin State Journal reported September 22 that Robert Streiffer, a professor of bioethics and philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, authored a study published in the May-June issue of the Hastings Center Report, a bioethics journal. Through a Freedom of Information request to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Streiffer made a request for the consent forms for the 21 stem-cell lines approved by President George W. Bush.