Aventis is using human retinal cell lines to develop vats of flu serum.

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Consider, for example, research based on human cancer cell lines.

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Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, who heads the committee, requested the names of the research groups who have human embryonic stem cell lines, information on where their research has been published, and details about proprietary rights and what ethical standards were used when the stem cells were derived.

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In an in vivo model using severe combined immunodeficient mice, subcutaneous tumors were generated by inoculating the animals with cells from human non-small cell lung carcinoma cell lines.

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But some food companies are using cell lines that were originally derived from human fetuses in order to develop new food products.

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With the help of certain "growth" chemicals, they were able to transform the stem cells into "various cell lines and tissues, including beating human heart cells, " said Shoukhrat Mitalipov, a developmental biologist at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Ore.

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In 2001, President George W. Bush banned all federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research, except on a handful of "pre-existing" stem cell lines.

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