NYTimes.com Article: Slow Going on Stem Cells

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Slow Going on Stem Cells

October 2, 2002

When Reagan, the State of California and leading

medical scientists all express frustration within days of

each other over the slow pace of stem cell research, it

seems clear that the compromise approach toward this

controversial research fashioned by President Bush is not

working. If the National Institute of Health, which is

striving diligently to make more cell lines available, does

not find a way to expedite progress, Congress may need to

step in with remedial legislation.

This page has felt from the start that the Bush approach

would prove inadequate. Mr. Bush was caught between the

demands of religious conservatives, who oppose any research

on human embryonic stem cells because the early stage

embryo is destroyed in the process, and the demands of

health groups that believe such research will lead to cures

for Parkinson's, diabetes and other intractable ailments.

He tried to steer an inoffensive course by limiting but not

banning federal funding for stem cell studies.

Unfortunately, he made the limitations much too tight by

agreeing to finance only research on stem cell lines that

had been created as of August 2001 from surplus embryos at

fertility clinics. No new lines, either from surplus

embryos subsequently generated at clinics or from other

sources, would be eligible for federal support.

As it turns out, scientists have had difficulty getting the

cells to work with. Although the National Institutes has

listed more than 70 lines around the world as qualifying

for support under the president's standard, scientists

complained at a Senate hearing last week that few of these

lines have been analyzed and described well enough to make

them ready for use. By one count only 17 lines are

available, and some scientists say that in their experience

the number is far lower.

Thus it is encouraging that California last week became the

first state to explicitly allow research on embryonic stem

cells. The importance of the state's new law is mostly

symbolic, in that nothing prevented such research from

being conducted with non-federal funds. But by passing a

law endorsing the research the state fired a warning shot

at those who would try to ban it. The law could open the

way for more state funding as well as greater access to

surplus embryos at fertility clinics, which will be

required to tell patients that they can donate surplus

embryos for research.

The most poignant call in recent days for faster progress

came from Mrs. Reagan, whose husband, the former president,

is suffering from Alzheimer's and no longer seems to

recognize her. As Alessandra Stanley reported in The Times

on Sunday, Mrs. Reagan was dismayed when the White House

took issue with the California law. Mrs. Reagan is

discreetly campaigning to overturn President Bush's

restrictions. Her eloquent appeals should be heeded.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/02/opinion/02WED1.html?ex=1034596149&ei=1&en=d924\

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