Stem cell compromise decried

Published 9:00 pm Friday, August 10, 2001

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Bush’s decision to limit embryonic stem cell studies to existing sets — whether it’s 60 or a dozen — could be a "cruel compromise," excluding people from medical miracles promised by the new science, researchers say.

They said that only by studying stem cells from many different embryos can science be sure that treatments developed would be universally available. By limiting the number, they said, there is the risk of creating two biological classes — those who can be treated with stem cell therapy and those who cannot.

And they questioned whether there are actually 60 usable stem cell lines, as the president said. Before his Thursday night speech, most scientists had estimated there were 12 stem cell lines, including some that would not meet strict research guidelines.

Bush said he would permit federal funding but with a major restriction: Researchers could use only cells from existing embryonic stem cell lines. This restriction, he said, would mean that no more embryos would be killed to advance federally funded research. Extracting the stem cells kills the embryo.

Asked Friday on ABC’s "World News Tonight" if his compromise decision condones the destruction of human life, Bush said the "life and death decision" has already been made for the embryos in the 60 cell lines. All of the cell lines came from embryos made at fertility clinics but not needed for reproduction. Most were scheduled for destruction when they were turned over to researchers.

"The fundamental question is, are we going to destroy more embryos as we go out in the future?" said Bush. "And my answer to that is, ‘We shouldn’t.’ We’ve got enough.’ "

Federal health officials said Bush’s statement about the existence of more than 60 stem cell lines was based on a survey of laboratories labs in the United States, Sweden, India, Israel and Australia and includes "proprietary information" not generally available.

"All of the stem cell research currently being done on mice is being done on only five stem cell lines," White House counselor Karen Hughes said on NBC’s "Today" show. "We’re talking about 60 stem cell lines here. I think there’s enough work to keep the scientific community very busy and we hope certainly to produce cures."

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