Stem Cell Compromise.

The New York Times.  April 23, 2009 v158 i54654 pA26(L).


Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2009 The New York Times Company



   The Obama administration took the easy political path on embryonic stem cells last week by proposing to pay for research only on stem cell lines created from surplus embryos at fertility clinics but not on lines created in the laboratory to study particular diseases. The proposal is not bold enough and will continue to deny federal financing to some potentially promising research. Still it is a significant improvement over former President George W. Bush's rules that allowed federal support for work with only 21 stem cell lines already created from surplus embryos at fertility clinics.
   The new draft guidelines would make it possible for federally financed scientists to conduct research on embryonic stem cell lines that may be created in the future. And they may significantly expand the number of past lines that can be studied with federal dollars to include some of the hundreds that have been created around the world from surplus embryos. The new guidelines impose rigorous eligibility standards. Donors of embryos no longer needed for reproductive purposes must be informed of all options for disposing of them; their written consent to donate them for research must be made separately from their decision to create them; and they must be able to withdraw consent until the embryos are used for research. Although such requirements are widely accepted today, they could rule out research on lines derived in the past under less stringent codes, including many created at leading universities or even those approved under Mr. Bush. Officials will need to pay close attention to this potential problem before issuing final guidelines.
   Meanwhile, the guidelines rule out supporting work on stem cell lines that might be derived from embryos created in the lab to genetically match patients with specific illnesses, such as diabetes or Parkinson's disease. During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama supported such research, known as ''therapeutic cloning.'' Scientists have not yet succeeded in producing genetically matched stem cell lines from human embryos, so this is mostly a constraint on future research. But the National Academy of Sciences and other major scientific organizations have endorsed such work as one potentially valuable approach to derive stem cell implants that would not be rejected by a patient's immune system. The National Institutes of Health contends that there is currently no uniform support for such studies. The N.I.H. also takes comfort in the hope that adult stem cells may be able to do the same thing and that private or state money will be available to pay for such research. The guidelines seem likely to increase the amount of embryonic stem cell research supported by the government without triggering a political backlash. But given the potential value of the science, it is disappointing that the N.I.H. didn't go further.

This could be a huge contribution to science and medical research.  Somatic cell transfer would have been a much needed boost to embryonic stem cell research...it is truly disappointing (to say the least) that the Obama administration and the N.I.H. did not press for this expansion of the research.