USA Today
07/05/2001 - Updated 10:15 PM ET

It isn't a sexy topic, just a matter of life and death

Remember those classic cartoons in which a character like
Bugs Bunny wrestles with his conscience with a good angel
and a bad angel perched on either shoulder? A columnist on
the cusp of a sleepy summer weekend finds himself in a similar
ethical predicament.

Right now, that smirking bad angel with the satanic tail is
whispering: "Gary Condit. That's all people want to read about.
Do today's column on his 'friendship' with missing intern Chandra
Levy. Write about how the reclusive California congressman
didn't even have the gumption to show up at his hometown Fourth
of July parade."

But the good angel, the one with the halo and the beatific smile,
has a different agenda. "Stem-cell research," the angel urges.
"That's the most crucial issue facing George W. Bush. How the
president decides could shape the future of medical science for
decades. So what if stem-cell research isn't amusing or salacious?
You have a responsibility to your readers."

Picture the furrowed brow of the columnist as he grapples with
temptation. He mulls the story in Thursday's USA TODAY quoting
a Levy relative who contends that the intern said she had an affair
with Condit, despite the lawmaker's denials. Then, with a sigh, the
columnist turns away from scandal and instructs his computer
screen, "Let's go for worthy and try not to make it dull."

Nothing better symbolizes the rapidity with which medical science
confronts society with ethical dilemmas than stem-cell research.
It was less than three years ago that James Thomson, a researcher
at the University of Wisconsin, demonstrated that stem cells from
days-old embryos could create any cell in the human body. The
potential for breakthroughs in the treatment of such diseases as
Parkinson's and Alzheimer's seemed vast.

But this research, which harvested embryos either left over from
in vitro fertilization or from abortions, carried with it a moral dilemma
at the intersection of science and religion. For how does a
free society make decisions that touch at the core of life itself?

There is a train of thought that argues that scientists in white coats
should be left alone, free from pesky governmental regulations, to
decide what should be the permissible boundaries of medical research.

This mindset appeals to both those who deify scientists and those
who worship at the shrine of free-market economics.

But does the ability to manipulate strands of DNA automatically
endow scientists and doctors with an ethical sensibility beyond
that of ordinary mortals?

Neither the Hippocratic oath nor a Ph.D. from a major university
has the power to liberate medical researchers from the base
ambitions that afflict the rest of us. Sure, there are selfless scientists
who are motivated only by a passion to serve humanity.

But far more typical is the talented researcher whose scientific zeal
is coupled with the dream of lucrative drug-company patents and
a passion for the acclaim of his peers. Completely left to their own
devices, there will always be scientists who press against the edges
of medical ethics.

Aside from a few free-market fanatics who still regard Medicare
as a socialistic scheme, no one challenges the federal government's
role in modern medicine. Federal funding decisions invariably
influence which research avenues are deemed promising and
those which are judged dangerously speculative. For all its
conspicuous flaws, the American medical system is defined
as a common good with an ethos of sharing its bounty with
rich and poor alike.

That's why we all have a stake in Bush's forthcoming decision
on stem-cell research. If the president makes good on his campaign
pledge to ban federal funding for research on stem cells derived
from human embryos, then these potentially epoch-making
experiments will be marginalized and exclusively reserved for
the private sector. But if Bush reverses course and backs the
medical use of stem cells created in laboratory petri dishes,
he will enrage conservative supporters who regard such research
as the moral equivalent of infanticide.

We all approach this issue with built-in prejudices. There are those,
myself included, who bring to this debate a strong bias in favor of
stem-cell research, which stresses the differences between human
embryos growing inside a mother and clusters of cells developed
as a byproduct of in vitro fertilization. Others regard this as a facile
distinction. They believe that any combination of sperm and egg
should be considered sacrosanct.

This is not a tax bill, which comes complete with countless avenues
for possible compromise. If Bush issues regulations banning federal
funding for stem-cell research, there will be strong pressure
in Congress to pass legislation overturning these restrictions.

Although there is a faction within the administration that believes
that research could be served by limiting experimentation to stem
cells donated by adults, many scientists vigorously dissent
from this politically convenient viewpoint. As in any scientific
controversy, ordinary citizens tend to agree with those scientists
who buttress their own pre-existing conclusions.

As Gary Condit reminds us of the long and tawdry history of
congressional sex scandals, there will be those who will bellow
that Congress is the last place on the planet to look for ethical
guidance. Yet political office has never been limited to the morally
pure, as even, yes, presidents have fallen from grace. These elected
officials, for all their failings, remain proxies for all citizens.
And in an imperfect world, we must look to the political system as
the arena in which the hard decisions about the limits of medical
research must be made.

This doesn't free the rest of us from an obligation to try, as best
as we can, to reach our own conclusions about the ethical limits
of modern science. Sure, it's more fun to gossip about errant
congressmen.

But sometimes we have to turn to our better angels and face the
intellectually demanding requirements of citizenship in the 21st
century.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/e98/shapiro/552.htm

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