Kansas City Star
May 22, 2003
When President Bush set limits in August 2001 on what stem cells could be used for medical research, scientists worried this might eventually curtail their work. But they thought there were enough stem-cell lines to let them work for years without problems.
Two developments are proving them wrong. Matters are serious enough that Bush should revise his policy so scientists can move forward with research that promises to help cure many debilitating diseases.
Stem cells extracted from 5-day-old human embryos can be coaxed to grow into most of the more than 200 kinds of cells the human body contains. The idea is to use these primitive cells to cure such diseases as Parkinson’s and juvenile diabetes and to repair damaged organs.
When Bush announced his policy limiting use of stem cells in federally funded research, the administration said there were more than 70 stem-cell lines, or families of cells, that researchers could use.
But the new director of the National Institutes of Health, Elias Zerhouni, now says that so far only 11 such cell lines are useful for research.
Because of that, the Bush restrictions are slowing scientific advances.
That’s not all. As The Washington Post reported recently, new advances in the way stem-cell lines can be grown have run into trouble, too.
The Bush policy forbids spending public money for research on any stem-cell line not in existence before Aug. 9, 2001. But in recent months, unexpected developments have made it possible to produce more medically promising lines.
Republican Sen. Arlen Specter and others are pressing the president to modify his policy so researchers can use what Specter calls “these new safer stem-cell lines.”
It’s sometimes difficult to balance the moral, ethical and economic considerations in life sciences research. Elected officials must set policy that is flexible but consistent with historic national values.
In this case, scientists say a tightly drawn presidential policy is preventing research that offers hope to many ailing people. The president should modify the policy to let scientists work more quickly.
