After over a month of consultations with colleagues, experts and friends, President George W. Bush reached a decision regarding the federal financing of embryonic stem cell research: he supports it, but on his terms.
The President appeared on national television last night to announce his decision to the American public. But the crux of the decision itself did not come until eight minutes into the speech, after Bush had uttered countless carefully chosen words to explain the difficulty with which he had reached his conclusion.
"Stem cell research offers great promise and great peril," he said. "I've decided that we must proceed with great care."
Bush later elaborated on what he meant by "great care." While he favors federal funding of stem cell research, he recommends limiting the expenditure of federal funds to the 60 stem cell lines already in existence. By such a policy, government researchers would be prohibited from experimenting with any newly-destroyed embryos, including those discarded by fertility clinics.
"I'm very disappointed," said Dartmouth Professor of Religion
and Ethics Institute Chair Ronald M. Green.
Green has long been a prominent figure in the stem cell debate, serving on the National Institute of Health's Human Embryo Research Panel and helping draft guidelines for research on human embryos since 1994.
He believes that limiting federal scientists to 60 stem cell lines is unwise and detrimental to the potential of stem cell research, which entails the extraction of certain cells from human embryos. While the extraction of stem cells results in the destruction of embryos, stem cells themselves, scientists say, may hold the keys to cures and treatments for many diseases, including Alzheimer's disease and juvenile diabetes.
"Scientists will have to have many, many stem cell lines and they'll have to be able to determine which direction they'll go [with their research]," he explained. "I don't think that the limitations that the President imposed measure up to the scientific need."
Green also explained that Bush's restriction could leave federal researchers vulnerable to royalty and profit-sharing demands made by private companies in possession of those 60 crucial stem cell lines.
The President's announcement marks a sharp departure from the position of his predecessor: a policy instituted last year by the Clinton administration allowed for government funding of stem cell research provided that federally financed researchers were not involved in the destruction of embryos. They could, however, in contrast to Bush's proposal, continue to procure destroyed embryos from other sources.
The President's proposal should soon grace the floors of both chambers of Congress. While his plan will likely face little opposition in the Republican-controlled House, it may face a few more obstacles in the Senate, where the Democratic majority - much of which is supportive of less-limited stem cell research - edges out the Republican minority by one seat.
Green feels that under the threat of a Presidential veto, both houses will reach a compromise in line with Bush's proposal.
Some have expressed relief that Bush did not call for putting an end to federally funded stem cell research altogether. While Green shares in this relief, he views the future prospects of stem cell research pessimistically.
"The President drew a line ... in a conservative place," Green said. "The positioning of this line does not bode well for stem cell research."
