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MENLO PARK – Since there is no federal oversight of human embryonic stem cell research, the three U.S. companies working in the field are left to police themselves. 

Geron Inc., Advanced Cell Technologies and the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine have formed so-called ethics advisory boards comprised of religion professors and bioethicists. 

The boards are designed to help the companies establish policies such as how to recruit egg and sperm donors and how to dispose of embryos destroyed during research. 

The companies point to these advisers as proof they are operating above board in this highly polarized field. Critics of the research, who argue that destroying an embryo is akin to murder, say the boards are nothing but public relations fig leaves. 

Even some proponents of the research question the quality of the ethics advice. 

“There are lots of reasons to be concerned,” said Ronald Cole-Turner, a religion professor at the Pittsburgh Theological Center who supports stem-cell research, but believes it should be government regulated. 

“There’s at least the appearance that the companies are buying their ethics,” Cole-Turner said. 

Geron and Advanced Cell pay their board members a small per diem and expenses for each meeting. 

The companies aren’t bound by any of the recommendations, and only Advanced Cell’s board has written ethical guidelines. Chief executive Michael West said his shareholders would consider him irresponsible if he gave Advanced Cell’s 11-member board veto power over research. 

“It’s a matter of trust,” said Ronald Green, chairman of Dartmouth University’s religion department and the chairman of Advanced Cell’s ethics advisory board. He said his power is his ability to publicly protest if Advanced Cell breeches any of the board’s guidelines. 

Green wouldn’t provide The Associated Press with a copy of the guidelines. However, according to a brief synopsis he shared, the guidelines don’t provide answers to fundamental moral and metaphysical questions about the research. Instead, they appear quite specific, and mostly involve the handling of embryos. 

For example, they forbid using eggs bought from women for reproductive purposes, and say that embryos should be destroyed before they reach 15 days old. (Geron has a similar time limit). The timing is a matter of practicality as well as ethics: embryonic stem cells begin to grow into one of 200 specific human cells after two weeks, and are no longer as valuable to scientists. 

The chairman of Advanced Cell Technology’s ethics advisory board, Dartmouth University religion professor Ronald Green, summarized the board’s ethical guidelines for embryonic stem cell research: 

• Collection: Eggs are recovered at clinic by the medical and scientific team. Eggs are counted and numbered according to ovary of recovery. Eggs are transferred immediately to scientists from Advanced Cell Technology with documentation listing egg number and an initial estimate of maturity. 

• Security: Once the eggs arrive in the ACT laboratory, they are taken to a secure location and kept in this location at all times.• Tracking: Eggs are repeatedly counted, photographed and videotaped as they proceed through the research procedure. An exclusive laboratory notebook is used to record all steps. 

• Disposal: Starting six days after activation, the oocyte – an egg that has not yet undergone maturation – is monitored every 12 hours for signs of growth. By day 13, following any research activities, activated oocyte is properly disposed of and the experiment ended. Two researchers other than the one performing the protocol must witness disposal of the eggs and sign the laboratory notebook accordingly.