{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.enzi.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ContentRecord_id=47E292CB-0A91-4B52-BD31-84F456851F22", "Senators question ethical safeguards of NIH policies liberalizing chimera creation", "2016-10-04", "2016", "2016-10", "Republican", "House", "WY", "Michael Enzi", "E000285", "www.enzi.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Research involving animal and human cells isn\u2019t just the stuff of science fiction and fantasy anymore.\u00a0The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is proposing policies to make it easier to do research resulting in organisms that are both human and animal, often referred to as \u201cchimeras.\u201d\r\nWhile it is an area of study with the potential to provide a better understanding of human diseases, according to U.S. Senators Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., the research carries with it real world ethical questions. Last week the senators wrote a letter to NIH asking for more information about the proposal.\r\n\u201cWe support the agency\u2019s mission to prevent diseases and conditions and find new treatments and cures but the NIH also has a responsibility to uphold the values of the Americans who fund its research,\u201d the senators wrote.\u00a0 \u201cAmerican taxpayers\u2019 money funds the NIH, and we are concerned by the prospect of those dollars advancing research that goes beyond the bounds of responsible and ethical research.\u201d\r\nChimera studies are experiments that introduce human stem cells into animal embryos. Currently, NIH is not funding any studies of that kind.\r\nIn order to better understand the proposed changes and their effects from both an ethical and scientific perspective, the the letter requested more information on how the process would be administered and how serious ethical questions would be addressed.\r\nClick here for a copy of the letter.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.enzi.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ContentRecord_id=47E292CB-0A91-4B52-BD31-84F456851F22"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9728651493787766, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}