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Pleaase note the Dickey Amendment

Kerry Vows Stem-Cell Research

By <A HREF="http://www.wired.com/news/feedback/mail/1,2330,0-31-65220,00.html">Kristen Philipkoski</A> | <A HREF="http://www.wired.com/news/storylist/0,2339,31,00.html">Also</A> by this reporter Page 1 of 1

02:00 AM Oct. 05, 2004 PT
With Parkinson's disease patient Michael J. Fox at his side, presidential
candidate John Kerry promised Monday to reverse President Bush's policy on
embryonic stem cells if he wins the election in November.
During a stump speech in New Hampshire, the Massachusetts senator called the
president "stubborn" and "out of touch" when it comes to science. He vowed to
spend $100 million a year on embryonic stem-cell research, which many
researchers believe could lead to cures for many human ailments, including Parkinson's
disease, blindness and diabetes. Embryonic stem cells are primordial cells
that can develop into any of the organs and tissues in the human body.

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The president's power to fund stem-cell research that destroys embryos is
more limited than Kerry's promise might lead one to believe. Every year since
1996, Congress has passed an <A HREF="http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:SN02810:@@@L&summ2=m&#amendments">amendment</A> to the Health and Human Services
appropriations bill prohibiting the use of federal funds for any kind of research on
human embryos.
Even if Kerry wins the presidency, it's doubtful he will be able to persuade
Congress to do away with the amendment.
"Congress is unlikely to change this, as there are neither enough votes to
expand funding nor enough votes to restrict it even further," said R. Alta
Charo, professor of law and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin Law and
Medical Schools.
But if a Kerry administration could come up with a liberal interpretation of
the amendment, federally funded embryonic stem-cell research could increase by
leaps and bounds.
The obscure legislation, known as the Dickey amendment because former Rep.
Jay Dickey (R-Arkansas) introduced it, also prohibits therapeutic cloning,
another technique researchers believe will help them discover how to treat some of
the worst human diseases. Both embryonic stem-cell research and therapeutic
cloning involve the destruction of early human embryos.
"It all comes down to the Dickey amendment," said Lawrence Goldstein, a
biology professor at the University of California at San Diego. "The president
cannot authorize (the destruction of embryos), only the use of stem cells that
were derived with private funds."
The Kerry campaign did not return requests for comment.
The Clinton administration found a way to circumvent the Dickey amendment.
Officials asked Harriet Rabb, then general counsel to Health and Human Services,
to render an opinion on the interpretation of the amendment. She determined
that researchers paid by the government could not perform research that
destroys embryos, but if the embryo had already been destroyed, federally funded work
using its stem cells would be acceptable.
Ironically, this is also the interpretation that allowed Bush to draft a <A HREF="http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,45992,00.html">
policy</A> that was designed to please everyone. On Aug. 9, 2001, Bush announced that
federal funds could be spent only on stem cells that had been derived on or
before that date. So federally funded researchers still could not destroy any
embryos, and they could only proceed with research using lines registered by the
National Institutes of Health as compliant with the presidential policy.
Bush and his campaigners have pointed out that he is the first president to
fund any research on embryos. But because the first embryonic stem-cell
research was published in 1998, no previous president had an opportunity to fund the
research. And scientists complain that while Bush estimated 78 stem-cell lines
would be eligible for federally funded research, only 22 are <A HREF="http://stemcells.nih.gov/research/registry/">now available</A>.
The funding limits have greatly limited their progress toward ameliorating
human suffering, scientists say.
If Kerry wins the election, his administration will likely try to adopt the
Clinton administration's take on the Dickey amendment. But the National
Institutes of Health will need another legal interpretation, said Dr. James Battey,
chair of the <A HREF="http://stemcells.nih.gov/policy/taskForce/tfMembers.asp">NIH Stem Cell Task Force</A>. It's unclear whether Rabb's
interpretation would stand.
"Given the broad terms of the Dickey amendment, many people thought this
wouldn't ultimately hold up in federal court," said Nigel Cameron, president of
the <A HREF="http://www.thehumanfuture.com/">Institute on Biotechnology and the Human Future</A> at the Chicago-Kent College
of Law.
But if a new interpretation does reflect Rabb's position, it could be a boon
for stem cell research, Battey said. Creating the stem-cell lines, which
destroys embryos, would still be barred. But that phase of the research is cheap
compared with the work that follows.
"Even if (researchers are) limited in creating new cell lines, if they're no
longer bound to using those derived on or before Aug. 9, 2001, there would be
many, many cell lines created elsewhere that would become available for
federal funding," Battey said. "That's the big change that would take place."
Dr. George Daley, associate professor of pediatrics and biological chemistry
at Harvard Medical School, estimated recently that researchers around the
world have developed 120 cell lines since Aug. 9, 2001.

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