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An
"Ethical Minefield"
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President
Bush announced his stem cell research policy on August
9, 2001.
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On August 9th, 2001, President Bush announced that his administration
would ban federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research,
characterizing the embryos these cells come from as "the seeds
of the next generation." But, acknowledging that "research
offers hope that millions of our loved ones may be cured of
a disease and rid of their suffering," Bush also said he would
allow funding research on the sixty lines of stem cells already
harvested by private researchers. (Click
here to read this speech)
Bush's
careful compromise pleased neither anti-abortion advocates
nor researchers. To the first group, using any product derived
from destroyed human fetuses constitutes a shocking disrespect
for human life. According to the American Life League, Bush's
decision "condones the act of direct killing and creates a
situation whereby the federal government becomes complicit
in the act that originally took the life of each of those
hundreds of embryonic beings who were killed in order to develop
the stem cell lines."
Stem
cell researchers, on the other hand, believe the withholding
of federal funds could mean the promise of stem cell research
will never come to fruition. Scientists believe the Bush compromise
will slow research for several reasons. First, researches
say the 60 already established stem cell lines Bush made eligible
for federal funding won't be adequate.
"A stem cell grown for many generations isn't very useful
anymore," says Melton. "The potential to differentiate into
all cell types is degraded or lost," says Melton. "The other
problem is that they accumulate mutations."
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Scientists
have had success using stem cells to grow new retina
cells on special scaffolds implanted in rats. It's not
yet clear if the new cell growth improved the rats'
vision.
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Of those 60 lines, Melton estimates only 20 are still able
to give rise to useful cells. Of those, about half are owned
by private companies or foreign countries, neither of which
are under any obligation to share their wealth with American
government researchers. Of the handful remaining, some simply
don't work. They don't propagate new cells, and researchers
do not yet know why.
"While,
this number 60 seems stuck in everyone's head, the number
is definitely less than ten," says Melton. "So there is an
insufficient number."
In his August 2001 remarks, Bush left the door open for private
foundations and corporations to obtain and experiment on embryonic
stem cells. But researchers argue that private moneys will
never match government funding. Even if it could, some say
there might not be any researchers to do the experimental
work.
"Because
of all of the signals from our federal government, young people
seem to be frightened to enter this field," says Melton. "They
fear that it will not be aggressively funded in the future."
And
these fears may be valid. On April 10th, 2002, Bush called
on the Senate to pass legislation banning the cloning of human
embryos - for both reproductive and research purposes. (Click
here to read this speech)
Since
cloning is one source of embryonic stem cells, banning the
procedure would slow progress in the field significantly.
Such legislation will likely meet tough opposition on both
sides of the aisle in Congress, but the Bush administration's
wariness towards stem cell research is in stark contrast to
the more liberal policies recently adopted in the U.K., Australia
and other nations. U.S. researchers worry that America's best
and brightest minds might be forced to continue their work
abroad. Scientists like Melton caution against this so-called
"reverse brain drain."
"There
are certain things that are in your national interest and
healthcare is one of them," Melton argues. "Why does the defense
department pay U.S. contractors to develop guns and bombs?
Why not let other nations do that? Because it's not in our
national interest, that's why."
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photo:
White House photo by Eric Draper
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