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Panel supports US funds for some stem cell studies By Richard Saltus, Globe Staff, 07/15/99 CAMBRIDGE - In a decision that could speed new treatments for Alzheimer's and other degenerative diseases, a presidential panel yesterday said research on stem cells from human embryos should be eligible for federal funding. Research using stem cells derived from embryos left over from fertility treatments - but not embryos created specifically for research purposes - should be federally supported, the panel said. Aborted fetuses would be another legitimate source of stem cells, said the National Bioethics Advisory Commission in a set of recommendations approved, except for some tinkering, in a two-day meeting here. The recommendations will be forwarded to the White House as part of a report requested last year by President Clinton. The White House issued a statement yesterday afternoon, noting the panel's decision and emphasizing that the National Insitutes of Health is drawing up its own guidelines and oversight mechanism. The hope is that research will reveal how the stem cells can be directed down specific paths to become, for example, nerve cells, heart muscle cells, or insulin-producing cells for treating diseases including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes, and spinal cord injuries. The 17-member panel, which held hearings that saw disease research advocates clash with religious groups on the embryo issue, also recommends setting up a national oversight and review panel to review proposed stem-cell research and maintain a registry that would keep track of all the lineages of cells obtained from human embryos. ''We want to build public confidence and trust and make sure we go forward cautiously and respectfully'' with the research, said Harold T. Shapiro, president of Princeton University, who chaired the panel. Stem cells are so-called pluripotential cells that are found within the days-old embryo. They can develop into any type of body cell, but cannot generate an entire individual. In removing those cells to generate large quantities of them in the laboratory, scientists necessarily destroy the embryo. Opponents of funding stem cell research with tax dollars argue that such an act is forbidden by a 1996 law banning research in which human embryos are destroyed. The bioethics panel recommended that an exception be made to the ban, allowing embryonic stem cells to be derived from embryos remaining from infertility procedures such as in vitro fertilization. In such techniques, more embryos are created than are returned to the woman's womb to become fetuses. The recommendations are certain to be attacked by some religious groups and members of Congress who argue that stem cell research violates the embryo ban. Last February, 70 members of Congress wrote Donna E. Shalala, secretary of Health and Human Services, opposing the research. The White House, however, indicated in its statement that the ban could be sidestepped, saying that ''it appears that human embryonic stem cells will be available from the private sector,'' which is not subject to the federal funding ban. Once those cells have been taken from the embryo and grown in the laboratory, research on them would be permissible because the prohibition is against research on embryos, not on stem cells, according to the NIH and bioethics advisory commission positions. However, Representative Jay W. Dickey Jr., Republican of Arkansas, and the sponsor of the 1996 embryo research ban, said in an interview yesterday that he would seek legislation specifying that stem cells are subject to the ban. ''The battle is still on,'' he said. This story ran on page A03 of the Boston Globe on 07/15/99. © Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.