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New possibilities for stem cell research

Rick Weiss,Jonathan Moreno

Sunday, August 10, 2008

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...type=printable

As America struggles with such weighty issues as the war in Iraq, the foundering economy and the run-up to a historic presidential election, it may be difficult to recall that seven years ago this month the most wrenching issue facing the nation was human embryonic stem cell research.

Scientists and patient advocates were clamoring for studies on the cells, whose vast therapeutic potential was just coming to light, while others were decrying the research as immoral because it necessitated the destruction of days-old human embryos.

On Aug. 9, 2001, President Bush devoted his first nationally televised address solely to this subject. After months of introspection and deep discussions with experts in bioethics, he said, he had decided on a policy that would allow scientists "to explore the promise and potential of stem cell research without crossing a fundamental moral line."

That policy, still in effect, would allow federal funding of research on embryonic stem cells already created as of the date of his address, but not on cells derived thereafter.

Bush's approach stood in contrast to that of his predecessor, Bill Clinton, whose plan was never implemented because it was completed in the administration's final months. Under Clinton's proposal, the decision of which cell colonies were eligible for study with federal funds was based on whether the cells had been ethically derived - whether the women who donated their discarded embryos for research did so with a full understanding of what was to be done with their cells, for example, and whether coercion or an expectation of better medical care had influenced their decision.

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