First, just a little editorializing:
As our PD clocks continue to tick away, the president's reply about when
the decision on stem cell research will be made:
''I'll make a decision on that very emotional issue later on,''
President
Bush said when asked about the matter during a Cabinet Room session
Wednesday with GOP lawmakers. (see below)
Linda
AP Online
June 27, 2001; Wednesday
SECTION: Washington - general news
HEADLINE: White House Mulls Stem Cell Issues
BYLINE: LAURA MECKLER
The Bush administration is searching for a compromise that would
allow
federal funds for promising but controversial research that uses stem
cells
derived from embryos.
The issue is pitting scientists and other research advocates against
anti-abortion forces, who are making the fight against this research
their top
issue.
''I'll make a decision on that very emotional issue later on,''
President
Bush said when asked about the matter during a Cabinet Room session
Wednesday with GOP lawmakers.
His advisers are developing several options that would allow the
research to
go ahead but with caveats, according to an administration official who
outlined
the potential compromises on condition of anonymity.
Options being discussed include:
_Limiting the number of embryonic stem cell lines that would qualify
for
federal money. Each stem cell line comes from an individual embryo that
can be
duplicated an infinite number of times. Researchers have already used
private
money to create two stem cell lines, and the administration could limit
funds to
stem cells already in existence.
_Put the National Institutes of Health in charge of licensing stem
cell lines
that would qualify for research funds, as a way of controlling the number
in
use. This is similar to the requirement already spelled out by the
Clinton
administration.
_Add new protections for parents who created the embryos in the first
place.
The embryos used for this research are left over from fertility
treatments and
typically are thrown away after the parents have all the children they
want.
Parents already must give permission for their embryos to be used in
PAGE 2
AP Online June 27, 2001; Wednesday
research. But this process could be tightened by making clear all the
options,
including offering the embryos to other couples for adoption, the
official said.
One leading research opponent, Richard Doerflinger of the National
Conference
of Catholic Bishops, dismissed these compromise ideas. He said parents
already
are required to consent and that limiting the research to a few stem cell
lines
does not make it any more ethical.
He also said allowing the research at all was a compromise.
''If we weren't compromising we would be trying for a ban on private
funding
as well,'' he said.
Federal law bans the use of tax dollars on any research that destroys
embryos. The Clinton administration got around that by ruling that it was
OK to
use the stem cells in federally funded research, as long as private
dollars paid
for them to be extracted from the embryos.
Two applications that have been submitted to the NIH are in limbo
while Bush
decides whether to allow the Clinton policy to stand or how to revise it.
Within the administration, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy
Thompson
is pushing the president to let the research go forward. Some of the most
important stem cell research is going on in Wisconsin, where Thompson was
governor for 14 years, and he was on record supporting the research
before he
ever arrived in Washington.
Thompson has discussed the issue with Bush personally at least three
times,
twice in person, and he has promised a decision by next month.
In addition, several high-profile, anti-abortion Republicans have
expressed
support for the research, including Sens. Trent Lott of Mississippi, John
McCain
of Arizona and Orrin Hatch of Utah.
Bush adviser Karl Rove is assessing the political implications of
acting
against anti-abortion forces and potentially alienating large numbers of
Catholic voters.
White House and HHS officials said they were hearing from all sides,
including one large and powerful constituency that does not often
register in
the public debate: baby boomers who see their children and aging parents
diagnosed with diseases that stem cell research might cure in the future.
A poll released this week by ABC News and Beliefnet found that
Americans
support federal funds for the research by a 2-1 margin.
--------------------------------------------
QUESTION: What do people think about the various compromises mentioned
above? Would they be feasible? Would they impede the research?
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