NIH Bows to Political Correctness

The NIH has long sought to ensure that the diagnostic and therapeutic research it supports will be of value to both men and women.  For that reason it has emphasized steps such as full inclusion of females in clinical trials. Now however, new policies are broadening that mandate to an unreasonable degree.  Not only will scientists be asked to include females in clinical trials and in more basic studies using animal models of disease, but they will also be asked to use cell lines derived from both males and females (1).

NIH policies to encourage full representation of females in clinical trials and use of female animals in basic research are sensible and laudable. But extending that policy to cell lines- ridiculous! Most cell lines used in basic research laboratories have been in culture for decades. They are so far removed from the original tissue cells that their responses to drugs or other stimuli are vastly different—this being a major problem for drug development. Insisting on equal representation of male and female cells in basic research is political correctness run amok!!

(1) http://www.nature.com/news/policy-nih-to-balance-sex-in-cell-and-animal-studies-1.15195