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Bush okays limited stem cell funding
Compiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times, CRAWFORD, Texas -- President Bush announced Thursday that he has decided to break a campaign pledge and support federal funding for limited medical research on stem cells, which in time could help ease human suffering. "At its core, this issue forces us to confront fundamental questions about the beginnings of life and the ends of science," Bush said in his first prime-time TV address to the nation as president. "Embryonic stem cell research offers both great promise and great peril. So I have decided we must proceed with great care." He said he would allow federal taxpayer money to be used for research, but only on 60 sets of embryonic stem cells that already exist, so no embryos would be destroyed. His decision, which Bush announced in a somber address from his central Texas ranch during vacation, is likely to provide a major boost to scientific research but have a mixed impact on his own political standing. If Congress backs Bush by approving money for stem cell research, Bush's action could lead to breakthrough treatments for diseases such as diabetes and Parkinson's. But Bush cautioned that he will insist upon restrictions to limit the research lest it violate ethical reservations about the sanctity of life, which probably means that the work will not go as quickly as it would without federal strings attached. Bush's decision could help him burnish his credentials as a "compassionate conservative" who is willing to buck his party's most conservative activists. But it also threatens to split his core supporters and to ignite a rebellion by religious conservatives, much as his father's reversal of a vow not to raise taxes sparked a revolt by economic conservatives that contributed to his 1992 defeat after one term. Reaction was mixed late Thursday. Many of Bush's supporters had feared that he would offer a broader endorsement of stem cell research and thus the potential it had for destroying embryos. Some but not all seemed relieved at the limits he laid out. Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza, the president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, called the president's decision "morally unacceptable." "We were pleasantly surprised with this," said Carrie Gordon Earll, bioethics analyst at Focus on the Family, a Christian group based in Colorado Springs. "We had hoped for him of course to say, no funding, no involvement, but we're not disappointed by this. It could have been worse. "What he is talking about is using cell lines with embryos that have already been killed. We grieve the loss of those embryos, but the truth is they are gone, and we can't change that. He is not talking about destroying any more with the involvement of federal dollars." Medical researchers and advocates of stem cell research cautiously embraced the president's decision, but they questioned whether the existing sets of cells, known as cell lines, are adequate in number or sufficiently robust to serve the needs of American scientists. "We are very concerned whether this is sufficient to do the work that needs to be done," said Peter Van Etten, president and chief operating officer of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. He added: "The limitations that he has put may limit our ability to do the work." Many Democrats criticized the decision for not going far enough and said that anything less than full federal financing for all types of stem cell research would slow the development of new cures. Embryonic stem cells, which are tiny clusters of cells, can theoretically grow into any type of cell or tissue. Scientists regard them as the raw material for a new era of regenerative medicine, growing cells that the body may be able to use to repair tissue damage that occurs in a variety of diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and various cancers. The president's choice was forced by the rapid advance of science, which now creates human life outside a woman's womb and fosters dreams of medical wonders to come along with a growing debate over whether to tinker with the building blocks of human existence. "This is a decision that will have far-reaching implications for our nation 20 to 30 years from now and beyond," said White House spokesman Scott McLellan. Stem cells can come from the bone marrow or blood of an adult or child, as well as from aborted fetuses and the blood in an umbilical cord after birth. But none of those is as promising as stem cells from embryos. The Clinton administration last year said it would allow federally financed research under certain circumstances. The Clinton rule would allow only the use of leftover embryos from in vitro fertilization clinics, which otherwise would be discarded. Campaigning for the presidency at the time, Bush promised to oppose federal financing of such research, a vow he repeated as recently as July 2. Yet as he discussed the issue, he found it was more complicated than he originally thought, McClellan said. Bush's decision echoed a compromise approach first floated on July 18 by a close ally, Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., a physician. Bush spent hours in recent weeks meeting with dozens of experts, McLellan said. The president consulted advocates of research on stem cells, including Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson and representatives of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. He also listened to opponents of research, including officials of the National Right to Life Committee and Pope John Paul II.
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
