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U.S. STEM CELL POLICY
DEBATE Origins
of policy debate in the U.S.
In 1969, the first human in
vitro fertilization was accomplished and in 1973, Roe v. Wade legalized
abortion nationwide. These developments prompted the federal government
to create regulations barring the use of federal funds for research that
experimented on human embryos. In 1995, the NIH Human Embryo Research
Panel advised the Clinton administration to permit federal funding for
research on embryos left over from in vitro fertility treatments and
also recommended federal funding of research on embryos specifically
created for experimentation. In response to the panel's recommendations,
the Clinton administration, citing moral and ethical concerns, declined
to fund research on embryos created solely for research purposes, but
did agree to fund research on left-over embryos created by in vitro
fertility treatments. At this point, the Congress intervened and passed
the Dickey Amendment in 1995 (the final bill, which included the Dickey
Amendment, was signed into law by Clinton) which prohibited all federal
funding for research that resulted in the destruction of an embryo
regardless of the source of that embryo. The Dickey Amendment remains
the law to this day.
In 1998, privately funded research led to the breakthrough discovery of
hESC (Human Embryonic Stem Cells). This prompted the Clinton
Administration to re-examine guidelines for federal funding of embryonic
research. In 1999, the president's National Bioethics Advisory
Commission recommended that hESC harvested from embryos discarded after
in vitro fertility treatments, but not from embryos created expressly
for experimentation, be eligible for federal funding[3]. Even though
embryos are always destroyed in the process of harvesting hESC, the
Clinton Administration decided that it would be permissible under the
Dickey Amendment to fund hESC research as long as such research did not
itself directly cause the destruction of an embryo. Therefore, HHS
issued its proposed regulation concerning hESC funding in 2001.
Enactment of the new guidelines was delayed by the incoming Bush
administration which decided to reconsider the issue.
President Bush announced, on August 9, 2001 that federal funds, for the
first time, would be made available for hESC research on currently
existing stem cell lines; however, the Bush Administration chose not to
permit taxpayer funding for research on hESC cell lines not currently in
existence, thus limiting federal funding to research in which "the
life-and-death decision has already been made". The Bush
Administration's guidelines differ from the Clinton Administration
guidelines which did not distinguish between currently existing and
not-yet-existing hESC. Both the Bush and Clinton guidelines agree that
the federal government should not fund hESC research that directly
destroys embryos.
Neither Congress nor any administration has ever prohibited private
funding of embryonic research. Also, public and private funding of adult
stem cell research has no restriction whatsoever. Moreover, public and
private funding of cord blood stem cell research is unrestricted.
Congressional
response
In April 2004, 206 members of
Congress signed a letter urging President Bush to expand federal funding
of embryonic stem cell research beyond what Bush had already supported.
In May 2005, the House of Representatives voted 238-194 to loosen the
limitations on federally funded embryonic stem-cell research — by
allowing government-funded research on surplus frozen embryos from in
vitro fertilization clinics to be used for stem cell research with the
permission of donors — despite Bush's promise to veto the bill if
passed. On July 29, 2005, Senate Majority Leader William H. Frist
(R-TN), announced that he too favored loosening restrictions on federal
funding of embryonic stem cell research. On July 18, 2006, the Senate
passed three different bills concerning stem cell research. The Senate
passed the first bill (Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act), 63-37, which
would have made it legal for the Federal government to spend Federal
money on embryonic stem cell research that uses embryos left over from
in vitro fertilization procedures. On July 19, 2006 President Bush
vetoed this bill. The second bill makes it illegal to create, grow, and
abort fetuses for research purposes. The third bill would encourage
research that would isolate pluripotent, i.e., embryonic-like, stem
cells without the destruction of human embryos. Stem Cell Research
Currently, the National Institutes of Health has 399 funding
opportunities for researchers interested in hESC . In 2005 the NIH
funded $607 million worth of stem cell research, of which $39 million
was specifically used for hESC . Of the 514 currently recruiting
clinical trials that are using stem cells as treatment, the federal
government is supporting 206 of them; however, none of these trials are
using hESC
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What
is a stem cell?
Research history and
developments
Isolation and in vitro culture
Production of male gametes
Contamination by reagents used in cell culture
Reducing donor-host rejection
Potential method for new cell line derivation
Stem cell therapies
Controversy of
Embryonic stem cell research
Arguments for cell research state these reasons:
Arguments against embryonic stem cell research
Stem cells without embryonic destruction
Patents covering human
stem cell research
International policy
context
US policy debate
Origins of policy debate in the U.S.
Congressional response
References |