STEM CELLS

Why Bush's Research Ban Could Be Reversed

As states push ahead with new research that the public seems to want, Congress is poised to expand the uses of federal funding beyond what the President's order allows. Is the first veto by President Bush looming?

By Karen Tumulty

It was the toughest call of his young presidency, and George Bush chose an event no less momentous than his first prime-time address to announce that he had found a thin ridge of moral high ground on which to perch. The wrenching decision: whether to lend federal support to embryonic-stem-cell research, unleashing potential cures for horrific illnesses and life-shattering injuries, but at the cost of giving government sanction to the destruction of human embryos. The government would move forward carefully, he promised, providing federal money for research on cell colonies that had already been created by that point, August 2001, but not edging one inch further down the slope of destroying additional human embryos. "I spent a lot of time on the subject," he later told reporters. "I laid out the policy I think is right for America, and I'm not going to change my mind."

Now, the once solid ground that Bush staked out almost four years ago is crumbling beneath him, and he will probably soon find himself once again in the middle of an argument that he had declared settled. The Republican-controlled House is considering legislation that could dramatically expand the number of stem-cell "lines" available to federally funded research by making accessible tens of thousands of embryos that have been created through in vitro fertilization. The bill contains a number of safeguards aimed at ensuring that it would apply only to embryos that would otherwise have been discarded. It stipulates that the embryos must have been created by individuals seeking fertility treatment and who then discovered that they had produced "in excess of the clinical need." It also requires that those donors give permission for the embryos to be used in stem-cell research, and forbids them from receiving any compensation.

As things look now, the bill has a good shot. Two hundred members of the House—nearly half—have signed on as co-sponsors to the legislation authored by Delaware Republican Mike Castle and Colorado Democrat Diana DeGette. House passage, all sides agree, would spur action in the Senate, where prospects for an identical bill are just as good, with 58 co-sponsors—just short of a filibuster-proof majority.

That's an excruciating prospect for the White House, made all the more so by the fact that a rejection of the stem-cell legislation would be Bush's first veto ever. White House aides are huddling with some congressional leaders to come up with an alternative measure of some kind that, in the words of one, would "reflect the President's priorities"—and give Republicans political cover for voting against a popular cause. But they say there should be no mistake about where Bush stands. "When the time comes, if it is necessary, we will make it clear that this violates the President's position," says a senior official. "The wall is firm. No question about it."

When Bush announced his Executive Order limiting federal funding to studies on existing stem-cell lines, he declared that private research had produced more than 60 genetically diverse lines that would be eligible. Researchers now say the number is more like 22, and even those are contaminated with mouse dna, making them ill-suited for use on humans. Meanwhile, research is moving ahead without Washington's sanction—not only in places like Britain and Singapore but also in a number of states, led by California What excites scientists about the unspecialized stem cells is their potential to develop into any type of tissue, from bone and muscle to skin and blood and nerve. Although there are several kinds of stem cells—including ones found in adult bone marrow and umbilical-cord blood—the most versatile, researchers say, are the ones that come from embryos, because they haven't yet developed enough to specialize at all. Those are the ones that scientists believe hold the greatest potential for treatment of a wide range of diseases, as well as for repairing damaged nerves and organs.

Backers of expanded stem-cell research say public opinion is swinging their way, thanks in large part to high-profile advocates like Nancy Reagan, who has made Ronald Reagan's struggle with Alzheimer's an emblem of the campaign.

Supporters of the measure have been quietly working the House chamber in what is becoming an intensely personal effort to build a majority one vote at a time. Some lawmakers with pro-life voting records say the vote will be an agonizing choice. "The most difficult moral questions aren't between right and wrong," says New Mexico's Heather Wilson, who says she is still undecided. "They are between right and right."

Wilson has been visited by lobbyists for universities and groups who advocate for sufferers of various diseases. The most compelling appeal, Wilson says, has come from a House Democrat—James Langevin of Rhode Island, an abortion foe who is also a quadriplegic as a result of an accidental gunshot wound suffered when he was a teenager. "When Jim Langevin talks to you about this," says Wilson, "he speaks with a certain understanding that the rest of us don't have."

Officially, the House Republican leadership has pledged not to pressure its members on the bill, having deemed it a matter of conscience. But majority leader Tom DeLay had been looking for ways to stall it or complicate its progress through the legislative machinery. House sources say he stepped back from that effort after moderate Republicans reminded Speaker Dennis Hastert that he had promised them a clean shot at passage of the measure.

Whatever the outcome, if there's anything that politicians have learned about embryonic stem-cell research, it is that the science has a way of always moving forward. The question now is how far Washington is ready to move with it. —from TIME, May 16, 2005

Questions

1. What are the problems with the 60 genetically diverse stem-cell lines that President Bush deemed eligible for research?

2. Why are stem cells so potentially important for research purposes?