Around the globe, stem cell research has met with reactions varying from enthusiasm (as in the UK) to suspicion and distaste. Despite increasingly permissive international laws, no consensus on supporting the research has emerged, even among the selection of “stem cell progressive” countries considered here.
The US government, for example, provides an enormous sum ($550m) for stem cell investigations by global standards, but the portion for human embryonic stem cell (hESC) studies ($24m) is only slightly above the spending by countries with much smaller budgets where investments go farther.
