Theresa Rehtom wrote:

<<All I hear from the Democrats is the "the sky is falling and we're the
only
ones who care."  Where were they before they realized they could exploit
this
issue to get in office?  They were not funding stem cell research, in
fact they
had a ban on this research.  >>

I believe all political viewpoints should be heard, but let's get the
facts straight please. The Democrats did not impose a ban on stem cell
research. During Clinton' s administration,  Republican Repressentatives
attached an amendment to the Appropriations bill each year to prohibit
NIH funding for research using embryos. During Clinton's administration,
the NIH  studied the issues, composed guidelines for ethical research
using stem cells - and was about to start funding the research. This
funding was squashed as soon as George W. Bush took office.

 Over the last 3 years Bush's limitations on federal funding has slowed
the progress of  the research. Although progress is being made in other,
more enlightened countries, how much further along could we have been
today if the vast resources of the NIH would be invested in both adult
and embryonic stem cell research? If our talented scientists hands
weren't tied by Bush's limitations? If we had a president who didn't
misuse, suppress and distort scientific advice?

Teresa, you also wrote : << Now they believe it can be exploited for an
election and they are quick to scare the vulnerable and offer false
hope.>

I wholeheartedly disagree. What keeps me going is hope for the future.
What scares me is facing the future with a cure still out of reach.

Linda Herman

I am reposting a message sent to PIEN earlier this month on the history
and politics of federal funding for stem cell research:

<<From 1980-1992 - Presidents Reagan and George Bush blocked federal
funding for all research using human embryos.
The Parkinson's Action Network  was founded in 1991 by Joan Samuelson and
Anne Udall in an attempt to lift this ban. PAN’s first mission was to
support the campaign for federal funding of fetal tissue research. A bill
ending the ban was passed in the House in 1991 and in the Senate in March
1992,  but was vetoed by President  Bush (#1). The House failed by 12
votes to override the veto.

President Clinton lifted the ban as one of his first acts as President.
He signed the Executive Order lifting the ban,  in honor of Mo Udall. He
also directed the  National Institutes of Health to draft guidelines for
funding research in this  field.

Most of the following information is quoted from :
"Funding of human stem cell research by the United States"  By Phillip
B.C. Jones.
EJB Electronic Journal of Biotechnology  Vol.3 No1, Issue of April
15,2000.

“In 1994,  the NIH established the  Human  Embryo  Research   Panel  to
develop   policies  for  methods  that  researchers should  use to
obtain embryos,  and to determine  the scope of  ethical  embryo
research. The panel consisted  of  19  scientists, physicians,
ethicists, lawyers, and  community representatives.

In November  1994,  after  ten months  of  deliberations, the  Human
Embryo  Research Panel presented its guidelines for human embryo
research.
-       embryos  must be less than 14  days old,
-       and only if the  studies could not be  performed with animal
embryos,
and
-       only if scientists  could demonstrate a compelling  reason why
the
studies should be performed.
 The panel also  decided that  researchers should not  be limited to
surplus  embryos from in  vitro fertilization procedures, and that
researchers could  create embryos  in vitro  for research  purposes.
However,  the researchers  would have  to show  that their  work with
newly created  embryos promised  outstanding scientific  and therapeutic
value. The panel  also warned that  women should not be paid for donating
their eggs for research."

 "During the following month,  the NIH voted to  adopt the guidelines .
However, on the day of the vote, President Clinton issued an  Executive
Order that  government funded scientists would  not be allowed to  create
human embryos  for research ….they could only use  embryos that remained
after  in vitro fertilization treatments.”

A National Bioethics Advisory  Commission was formed .

“In  July  1995,  the  House Appropriations Committee approved a proposal
offered by Representatives Jay Dickey (R-AR) and Roger  Wicker (R-MS) to
ban  the use of federal funds for research using  human  embryos   To
implement the new prohibition, the Committee added an amendment to the
1996  NIH appropriation bill, which additionally barred federal  funding
for any research  requiring embryos obtained from in vitro fertilization
procedures."

From 1996 on,  Congress continued to attach  a ban on funding  of human
embryo  research in  a  rider to  the  Health and  Human Services
appropriations legislation .

" On January 15, 1999, Harriet  S. Rabb, general counsel for Health and
Human
 Services, provided NIH director Harold  Varmus with  her conclusions
about  the scope of  the  current embryo  research  ban. In brief,  she
indicated that, since  human  pluripotent  stem  cells  are  not  a
human  embryo,  the statutory  prohibition on the  use of  funds
appropriated to  the Department of Health  and Human Services for human
embryo research would not apply to research on  pluripotent stem cells.

 With this legal opinion  in hand, Varmus announced  that he decided to
move forward with funding research  on newly derived human  embryonic
stem cells At the same  time, he warned that  the NIH still could  not
fund  research to  produce the  cells.  The Clinton  administration
backed  the  policy  that federal  funds  could be  used for  research on
 human embryonic  stem cells  obtained from the  private sector.”

The NIH published “Final Guidelines for Stem Cell Research” in August 23,
2000
and
“Approval Process for the Documentation of Compliance with the NIH
Guidelines on the Use of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells in NIH Research
Proposed for Support Under Grants and Cooperative Agreements, November
21, 2000.”

They were finally  ready to begin the grants process.
But before any NIH funding could take place,  George W. Bush took office
in Jan. 2001. Funding for stem cell research was put on hold.

In August 2001, during his famous television address,  Bush announced
federal funding would be limited to research utilizing 78 existing stem
cell lines. Scientists and disease organizations voiced concerns over
these limits.
As of June 2004, scientists have found only a fraction of these lines are
actually usable and  available to them......

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