The U.S. government typically functions as a financer and overseer of scientific research. It funds the majority of basic research, or research that provides the fundamental knowledge that practical research builds upon, in the United States. In this capacity, the federal government can speed up or stifle research by controlling the level of funding an area of research receives. Additionally, researchers who accept federal money are obligated to comply with the rules and regulations of several federal agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In this way, federal regulators monitor research to ensure it is conducted ethically. The U.S. Congress and each U.S. president since Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) have wrestled with the question of whether to provide federal funding for research using cells from developing humans: embryonic or fetal, including stem cells.     
   The U.S. government began regulating fetal research in the 1970s and generally makes a distinction between fetal research and fetal tissue research. Federal lawmakers motivated by the abuses of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, where hundreds of African American males were denied treatment for syphilis, enacted the National Research Act of 1974. The act put in place several important provisions to protect "human subjects" used in biomedical research and included provisions specifically prohibiting federally funded research on aborted fetuses. These provisions were included to prevent the "dehumanization of unborn children" and were in response to the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in 1973. Also in 1973, the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act was enacted, which regulates the use of human organs and tissues after death. Under this act, fetal tissue cannot be sold for profit and cannot be used for any reason except research or therapeutic purposes.    
   During the 1970s and for most of the 1980s fetal tissue research progressed, using tissue from aborted fetuses. In the late 80s, however, scientists began experimenting with tissue transplants and were transplanting fetal cells and tissues into the brains of victims of Parkinson's disease. Prompted by this new development—where fetal tissue is used not just as a research tool but as transplantation material—the administration of President Reagan declared a moratorium on all federal funding for fetal tissue research.     
   The moratorium lasted for five years. Within the first weeks of taking office in 1993, President Bill Clinton reversed a number of policies that had been established under the preceding Republican administrations of Reagan and George H.W. Bush. One of the first directives Clinton issued was to end the federal moratorium on the use of fetal tissue for federally funded medical research. Later that year the U.S. Congress followed suit and enacted a law (the NIH Revitalization Act) to allow federally funded fetal tissue research. Today, federal funding for fetal tissue transplantation research is allowed under strict guidelines.    
  The U.S. government began regulating embryonic research in the 1990s. For a brief period of time, research using human embryos was allowed; authorized under the NIH Revitalization Act of 1993. A few short years later, however, the U.S. Congress prohibited funding for any research that harms an embryo—a prohibition that essentially blocks all federal funding for the initial step of stem cell research, where stem cells are extracted from embryos. That is where things stood until August 9, 2001, when President George W. Bush made his famous announcement saying, "I have concluded that we should allow federal funds to be used for research on existing stem cell lines, where the life and death decision has already been made." Thus, as of 2006 only research on stem cell lines that were in existence on August 9, 2001, may receive federal funding.    
   In 2005 and 2006, the U.S. Congress attempted to expand the number of stem cell lines eligible for federal funding. The U.S. Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005 would have allowed federally funded researchers to extract stem cells frozen in in vitro fertilized (IVF) embryos and create new stem cell lines from them. The legislation passed both the House and the Senate; however, when it was placed on President Bush's desk, he vetoed it. Today (in 2007), the federal policy on funding embryonic stem cell research remains as it was in 2001.     

   The government's role in research using the tissues of developing humans is a subject that will probably be debated by presidents and Congress for years to come.
FURTHER READINGS
Books
Brian Alexander Rapture: How Biotech Became the New Religion. New York: Basic Books, 2003. Michael Bellomo The Stem Cell Divide: The Facts, the Fiction, and the Fear Driving the Greatest Scientific, Political, and Religious Debate of Our Time. New York: American Management Association, 2006. Laura Black The Stem Cell Debate: The Ethics and Science Behind the Research. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow, 2006. Andrea L. Bonnicksen Crafting a Cloning Policy: From Dolly to Stem Cells. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2002. John Bryant, Linda Baggott la Velle, and John Searle Introduction to Bioethics. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2005. Eileen L. Daniel, ed. Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Health and Society. Dubuque, IA: McGraw-Hill, 2006. Andrew Goliszek In the Name of Science: A History of Secret Programs, Medical Research, and Human Experimentation. New York: St. Martin's, 2003. Suzanne Holland, Karen Lebacqz, and Laurie Zoloth The Human Embryonic Stem Cell Debate: Science, Ethics, and Public Policy. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001. Judith A. Johnson and Erin D. Williams CRS Report for Congress: Stem Cell Research. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2005. Ann Kiessling Human Embryonic Stem Cells: An Introduction to the Science and Therapeutic Potential. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett, 2003. Helga Kuhse and Peter Singer, eds. Bioethics: An Anthology. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2006. Robert Lanza et al, eds. Essentials of Stem Cell Biology. Boston: Academic, 2005. Jane Maienschein Whose View of Life? Embryos, Cloning, and Stem Cells. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004. Steven Paul McGiffen Biotechnology: Corporate Power Versus the Public Interest. Ann Arbor, MI: Pluto, 2005. Jeff McMahan The Ethics of Killing: Problems at the Margins of Life. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Chris Mooney The Republican War on Science. New York: Basic Books, 2005. Jonathan Morris The Ethics of Biotechnology. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2006. National Research Council and Institute of Medicine Guidelines for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research. Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2005. Joseph Panno Stem Cell Research: Medical Applications and Ethical Controversy. New York: Facts On File, 2005. Ann B. Parson The Proteus Effect: Stem Cells and Their Promise for Medicine. Washington, DC: Joseph Henry, 2004. President's Council on Bioethics The Administration's Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Funding Policy: Moral and Political Foundations. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2003. President's Council on Bioethics Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2003. Bernard E. Rollin Science and Ethics. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Michael Ruse and Christopher A. Pynes The Stem Cell Controversy: Debating the Issues. Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 2003. Albert Sasson Medical Biotechnology; Achievements, Prospects and Perceptions. New York: United Nations University Press, 2005. Christopher Thomas Scott Stem Cells Now: From the Experiment That Shook the World to the New Politics of Life. New York: Pi, 2006. George Patrick Smith The Christian Religion and Biotechnology: A Search for Principled Decision-Making. Norwell, MA: Springer, 2005. Wesley Smith Consumer's Guide to a Brave New World. San Francisco: Encounter, 2004. Nancy E. Snow, ed. Stem Cell Research: New Frontiers in Science and Ethics. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2004. Jennifer Viegas Stem Cell Research. New York: Rosen, 2003. Brent Waters and Ronald Cole-Turner God and the Embryo: Religious Voices on Stem Cells and Cloning. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2003. Wendy Wagner and Rena Steinzor Rescuing Science from Politics: Regulation and the Distortion of Scientific Research. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Ian Wilmut and Roger Highfield After Dolly: The Uses and Misuses of Human Cloning. New York: Norton, 2006.
Periodicals
American Thoracic Society"Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research," American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, March 2006. BBS News"Right Wing Distortions and Falsehoods on Stem Cells," BBSNews.net, July 20, 2006. www.bbsnews.net. Tom Coburn "Stem-Cell Bill Rests on 'False Hope'," Hill, August 23, 2006. David DeGrazia "Moral Status, Human Dignity, and Early Embryos: A Critique of the President's Approach," Journal of Law and Medical Ethics, Spring 2006. Richard M. Doerflinger "Ethical and Policy Concerns Regarding Embryonic Stem Cell Research," United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, September 29, 2004. www.usccb.org. Theodore Dana Hall "The Stem Cell Controversy—Connecting the Dots," Bleeping Herald, March 16, 2006. Tom Harkin and Jim Doyle "Remarks at the Center for American Progress on Stem Cell Research," Political Transcript Wire, August 4, 2006. Kelly Hollowell, Phillip Coelho, David Weldon, and Robert E. Moffit "Federal Stem Cell Research: What Taxpayers Should Know," Heritage Lectures, May 10, 2005. Thomas Lang "Getting Right on Stem Cell Legislation," CJR Daily, May 24, 2006. www.cjrdaily.org. Aaron D. Levine "Research Policy and the Mobility of U.S. Stem Cell Scientists," Nature Biotechnology, July 2006. M.C. Nisbet "The Polls: Public Opinion About Stem Cell Research and Human Cloning," Public Opinion Quarterly, 2004. Ramesh Ponnuru "Stem Cells: The Case for Bush's Policy," Hoover Digest, 2004. Mahendra S. Rao "Embryonic Stem Cell Research and U.S. Policy," Stem Cells, September 6, 2006. Byron J. Richards "Bush's Stem Cell Propaganda," NewsWithViews.com, July 20, 2006. www.newswithviews.com. Jessie Ron "The Promise of Tomorrow: Despite the Controversy That Surrounds Stem Cell Research, Those in the Field Believe the Future Is Bright," New Scientist, June 24, 2006. Paul Sandberg Stem Cell Research's Reversal of Fortune: Why Restricting Federal Funding May Have Been Good for Embryonic Stem Cell Research, Scientist, October 10, 2005. Arlen Specter "Senator Specter Speaks on the Senate Floor Regarding Stem Cell Research," July 16, 2006. http://specter.senate.gov. Tamra Traubmann "Where Scientists Call the Shots," Center for Public Integrity, June 2, 2004. www.publicintegrity.org.

Source Citation: "Preface to 'What Role Should the Government Play in Stem Cell Research?'." Opposing Viewpoints: Stem Cells. Ed. Jacqueline Langwith. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Akron Summit County Public Library. 13 July 2009