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Restricting medical research

Posted on: Tuesday, 2 December 2003, 06:00 CST

A little more than two years ago, President Bush restricted the scientific community to about 60 lines of stem cells with which to do their research. It was a bad decision based on ideology. The lack of wisdom then is becoming even more apparent now.

A medical ethics panel this week said that those lines of embryonic stem cells are inappropriate as treatments because they were grown on mouse cells and could expose people to animal diseases.

The panel formed by Johns Hopkins University said treating people with those cell lines not only would be risky, but would be unethical as well. Members of the panel included scientists, philosophers, ethicists and lawyers and was convened to study the ethics as research moves closer to therapies.

The president limited the lines of research based on the belief by anti-abortionists that the harvesting of stem cells, which are gathered from unwanted embryos, amounts to murder. Pope John Paul II on Monday issued a similar statement. He said that any treatments derived from the use of stem cells would be "morally contradictory."

But in fact, it is science that will create the treatments. And it is important to note that researchers take the cells from unwanted embryos in fertility clinics.

Bush's decisions on the issue are far-reaching because nearly all of this research is done with federal funds. Moreover, today there are just 11 lines available to scientists. And all those 11 lines were grown using the mouse cells.

The ethics panel had other concerns that should cause the president to consider the matter further. Because there are only 11 lines, further research will almost certainly be done by private firms. The concern there is that private research and tests would remove participants from federal protections. Further, dwindling research opportunities here will certainly move all such research outside the United States.

The president is said to have thought long and hard before coming up with his decision in 2001. He went so far as to announce his decision on prime-time television.

While it was a bad decision then, it is not too late to allow the medically necessary research to go on.

Stem cells, which can grow into all cells in the human body, hold the potential magic to cure horrific diseases such as Parkinsons and Alzheimers. Because they can grow into all cells, such research also holds promise for sufferers of spinal cord injuries.

The president's decision two years ago has resulted in a situation dangerously close to a shutdown of such research. It happened at a time when it was generally believed that cures and therapies are only a few years away.

The president should rescind his earlier decision and allow the research to go on. And to allow victims of disease a chance at a cure.

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