This map was used on the floor of the U.S. Senate by Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) during the debate over the Stem Cell Enhancement Act of 2007. At that time, April 11, 2007, the U.S. was colored gray for restrictive.

Video of Senator Bingaman's speech (7 min.)

Countries with a restrictive policy, meaning research is either prohibited, not explicitly permitted with existing stem cell lines, or permitted with existing lines but not through the derivation of new lines, include Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, and Slovakia.

Countries with a policy permitting research on stem cell lines derived from human embryos donated from fertility (IVF) clinics include Brazil, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Iran, Latvia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United States.

Countries with a policy permitting research on stem cell lines derived from human embryos donated from fertility (IVF) clinics plus other techniques for deriving stem cells (eg. nuclear transfer / research cloning) include Australia, Belgium, China, Finland, India, Israel, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

These are general policy categories. Policies vary considerably within the categories.

International Stem Cell Policy in 2003 Countries in brown are Australia, Belgium, China, India, Israel, Japan, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. These countries had established national policy permitting research on stem cell lines derived from human embryos donated from fertility clinics as of 2003. This map was part of a presentation by William Hoffman to students in the biology, economics, and public policy programs at the College of St. Benedict / St. John's University (CSB/SJU) in 2003.

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