Another news story that didn't seem to be widely reported. Has anyone
seen more about this?
Linda
From: Chronicle of Higher Education May 25, 2001
"Senator Blasts Agency for Ordering Officials to Revise Letters on
Stem-Cell
Research"
By RON SOUTHWICK
Washington
Sen. Arlen Specter rebuked the Department of Health and Human Services
Wednesday for demanding that officials at the National Institutes of
Health make changes in letters they had written about the scientific
benefits of research on stem cells taken from human embryos.
At a budget hearing, Senator Specter asked the Health and Human Services
Department to provide the copies of the original letters. Citing the
potential benefits to patients, Mr. Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican,
has vigorously supported the use of federal funds for stem-cell research,
one of the
most promising and controversial areas of biomedical studies.
He said he sought the counsel of N.I.H. officials to
determine whether the scientific evidence provides a
compelling argument for the government to sponsor
such studies. President Bush has said that he
opposes the use of federal funds for the research,
endorsing the views of anti-abortion groups.
However, he has not decided whether he will allow
the government to finance studies on embryonic
stem cells.
At a hearing scheduled to discuss the N.I.H. budget
for the 2002 fiscal year, Mr. Specter criticized the
Health and Human Services Department -- which
oversees the N.I.H. -- for asking officials to revise
their letters.
"I want to see what those responses are," said Mr.
Specter, who is the chairman of the appropriations
subcommittee that sets the N.I.H. budget. He added
that he wanted to see whether the letters were
"based on science and someone didn't like the
answers."
Scott Whitaker, assistant secretary of legislative
affairs for the Health and Human Services
Department, said the agency did not seek "to
withhold information or control information." He said
the department simply asked N.I.H. officials
generally to focus on the scientific merits of
embryonic stem-cell research, and not "nonscientific
speculation."
Administrators of the N.I.H.'s individual institutes
were asked only to narrow the scope of their
responses to their own areas, said Ruth L.
Kirschstein, the N.I.H.'s acting director. In some
cases, institute administrators made no changes, she
said.
However, Senator Specter said he would be
"shocked" if the original letters contained personal
or
nonscientific views on whether the government
should finance stem-cell research.
Mr. Specter pressed agency officials to provide the
original letters. Mr. Whitaker said he would have to
seek approval from Tommy G. Thompson, the
secretary of the Health and Human Services
Department, before turning them over.
Sen. Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, said at the
hearing that he would agree to file a subpoena for
the original copies of the letters, if Mr. Specter
wished to do so. "We should get the unvarnished
truth," said Senator Harkin.
It isn't clear when Mr. Specter will get the original
letters. Attempts to reach officials in the Health
and
Human Services Department, and Mr. Specter, on
Thursday were unsuccessful.
The hearing underscored the political tension
surrounding stem-cell studies. Researchers say stem
cells from human embryos could be used one day to
replace damaged tissue, and possibly lead to cures
for heart disease and Alzheimer's disease. But
because embryos must be destroyed to obtain the
cells, some religious groups say the work is immoral.
The N.I.H. has proposed financing such studies, but
President Bush has directed the Department of
Health and Human Services to review the
regulations that were drawn up last year. That
review is expected to be finished next month.
Mr. Specter asked N.I.H. officials if they would like
to finance researchers studying stem cells from
human embryos. Some hedged and pointed to the
broad support among other scientists. When
pressed, they said as scientists that they would like
to see N.I.H. funds used for embryonic stem-cell
research.
College and research lobbyists privately said that it
is common for an agency's administrators to review
correspondence to members of Congress.
However, most said they didn't expect that N.I.H.
officials would offer personal views on whether the
government should finance stem-cell research. Most
suspected that they relied solely on scientific
studies,
which nonetheless posed a convincing argument in
favor of supporting the research.
"I think that it's important that Senator Specter and
Senator Harkin end up getting information from the
N.I.H. that expresses the scientific potential for
this
research," said Lawrence A. Soler, director of
government relations of the Juvenile Diabetes
Research Foundation International, a leading
proponent of stem-cell studies. "
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