[gambit]

I asked my friend a couple follow-up questions, namely a clarification on the "h" and whether the original lines are still in use. He also addresses federal funds for research.

Yeah, hESC = human embryonic stem cell. To my knowledge the five (not eight, I was mistaken) original lines are still in use, although I think some are used more than others. I seem to recall that one or two that are predominantly used, while at least one or two of them are kinda poorly behaved and not really used at all. I'm looking for more info online but not finding it.

Bush's ban was only on deriving new lines because that destroys additional embryos. It was basically a pro-life law. Also, I should clear up that the ban is only against using federal grant money to derive and research new lines. Private funds can still be used, but honestly the US federal government is the largest research sponsor in the world, so cutting that out presents a huge obstacle to the research. People in the US have derived new hESC lines using private grants, for example Jamie Thomson derived two new lines in defined, animal-free media. However, labs can't touch those lines unless they can demonstrate that not one dime of federal money will support their work on those lines (which is very, very difficult).