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Issues & Implications fetus following an abortion, was halted by the Reagan administration Embryonic Stem Cell Research— in 1988, only to be resumed under a 1993 executive order issued by Old Controversy; New Debate President Clinton. Only months after Clinton’s action, Congress adopted By Rachel Benson Gold legislation codifying into federal law guidelines for such research that had been proposed by yet another spe- cial NIH review panel. Significantly, The debate over federal funding of been the subject of long-standing Congress was spurred to action by research involving fetuses and mate- controversy that has led to a com- sustained pressure by the research rial derived from fetuses has ranged plex web of policymaking—involving community and the support of key far and wide over the course of three administration officials, Congress senators with solid antiabortion decades. Its common thread, how- and a string of specially created records, including former Sens. ever, is an enduring controversy expert review panels (“Human Robert Dole (R-KS), a longtime advo- over work that is portrayed by its Embryo and Fetal Research: Medical cate for disability issues, and Strom proponents as holding immense sci- Support and Political Controversy,” Thurmond (R-SC), whose daughter entific promise and by its opponents TGR, February 2001, page 3). The suffers from diabetes. as devaluing human life in its most current state of federal policy setting basic form. forth when and under what circum- The latest chapter in this long saga stances such research may be con- involves embryonic stem cell The debate’s most recent incarna- ducted with federal funds is summa- research—research using cells tion centers on the use of stem cells rized in the chart on page 5. derived from days-old “spare” derived from embryos in the very embryos, which were created in the earliest stages of development; these Just as the promise of process of infertility treatment but cells have long been thought by sci- stem cell research predat- never implanted and slated to be dis- entists to have an extraordinary ed the reality, so did the carded. Even before embryonic stem potential for alleviating the suffering cells were first isolated in 1998, sci- caused by conditions ranging from political controversy and entists were eager to work with them diabetes to Alzheimer’s disease to the active involvement of because they have the potential to spinal cord injury. In a rare break antiabortion activists. generate the different kinds of tissue with its political base, the Bush a body may need. According to a administration in 2001 enunciated a In the 1970s, the controversy focused special committee established by the policy that would permit some on research involving fetuses in National Academy of Sciences research to go forward with federal utero, aimed at developing techniques (NAS), researchers hope that “har- funds, albeit with very stringent such as amniocentesis and improving nessing the capabilities of stem restrictions. Three years later, that the understanding of conditions such cells…could then help repair dam- compromise approach has garnered as congenital heart disease, as well as aged and diseased organs or provide little support, either among the sci- on research involving tissue from alternatives to organ transplants. entific community or the public at aborted fetuses of the type that led to Stem cell therapy could offer hope large. the polio vaccine. Federal funding of for the millions who suffer from this research was halted until guide- spinal-cord injuries, cardiovascular lines and safeguards were established disease, autoimmune disease, dia- Long-standing Debate by a blue-ribbon, congressionally betes, osteoporosis, cancer, Research involving human embryos mandated commission and later codi- Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s dis- and fetuses has yielded an impres- fied into federal law. ease and other disorders.” sive array of results over the years. As far back as 1954, the Nobel Prize In the 1980s, the controversy shifted Just as the promise of stem cell for Medicine was awarded to scien- to research involving the transplan- research predated the reality, so did tists whose work on cultures of tation of fetal tissue into adults with the political controversy and the human fetal kidney cells led to the an array of serious conditions— active involvement of antiabortion development of the polio vaccine. including diabetes, Parkinson’s dis- activists. In 1995, Congress moved But balanced at the intersection of ease and spinal cord injuries. to prohibit the use of federal funds science, politics and personal ethics, Federal funding of this work, which to create human embryos solely for fetal and embryo research also has involves material derived from a research purposes or to destroy The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy October 2004 4 arriving, NIH appointed a committee RESEARCH INVOLVING HUMAN EMBRYOS AND FETUSES to review the proposals. DEFINITION USE STAT U S O F FEDERAL FUNDING A New Moratorium When the Bush administration took FETAL RESEARCH An umbrella term Used in the Allowed in accordance with 1975 encompassing the study development of regulations, as codified by 1985 office in January 2001, many of fetuses (in utero or ex vaccines and to law, which prohibit researchers expected it to move quickly to block utero) or the use of fetal study aspects of from having any involvement in cells and tissues general- cell physiology the decision to terminate a preg- NIH’s steps toward funding stem cell ly obtained from and human nancy or assessing fetal viability research, in line with what opponents induced abortions. development. and forbid altering the timing or intended with the passage of the 1995 method of abortion for the sake of research and the payment of any ban on using federal funds to destroy inducements that might encour- embryos. However, President Bush age a woman to have an abortion. instead directed DHHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson to review the FETAL TISSUE Research involving Used to develop Allowed in accordance with 1993 TRANSPLANTATION transplantation of potential treat- law, which ensures informed con- issue. With the policy in limbo, NIH RESEARCH “multipotent” cells ments for a vari- sent, forbids the woman providing canceled the first scheduled meeting (“differentiated” cells ety of conditions, the tissue from being paid or of the review committee, which had that give rise to more such as diabetes knowing the identity of the recipi- specialized cells) and tis- and Parkinson’s ent, forbids altering the timing or been set for April. sues generally obtained disease. method of abortion for the sake of from aborted fetuses. research and attempts to avoid the commercialization of fetal tissue. Even while the president was delib- erating, support for stem cell IN VITRO Research on reproduc- Used to under- Effectively prohibited by 1995 law, research began building among FERTILIZATION tion in which sperm and stand and devel- which blocks funding for any antiabortion Republicans. That RESEARCH egg are combined in a op treatments for research in which human embryos laboratory dish, where infertility; IVF are destroyed, discarded or know- spring, long-standing abortion foes fertilization occurs. also used for ingly subjected to serious risk. Sens. Connie Mack (R-FL) and deriving stem cells (see below). Thurmond announced their support for the research. In June, Sen. Orrin STEM CELL The study of “undiffer- Used to under- In accordance with 2001 executive G. Hatch (R-UT), who had led the RESEARCH entiated,” or “pluripo- stand factors in order, federal funds may be used fight in Congress against fetal tissue tent,” stem cells, which abnormal human to support research only on are able to divide and development. embryonic stem cell lines created transplantation research, announced form into many differ- Considered poten- on or before August 9, 2001. his support for stem cell research. ent cell types. Stem cells tially useful in can be derived from treating genetic aborted fetuses, from disorders or organ The administration finally announced embryos created failure and, its policy in August 2001. In a state- through IVF for the sole through trans- ment delivered from his Texas ranch, purpose of research, plantation, from embryos created Parkinson’s dis- Bush attempted to walk a fine line through IVF but not ease, Alzheimer’s between those clamoring for funding implanted in women disease, spinal for stem cell research and those— being treated for infertil- cord injury, ity and through a stroke, burns, including many of the administra- cloning technique called heart disease and tion’s most steadfast allies—wanting somatic cell nuclear diabetes. a complete ban on the work. In craft- transfer. ing his policy, the president used the date of the speech as a major, albeit arbitrary, demarcation point, and them (which effectively prohibited In January 1999, the general counsel prohibited the use of federal funds for federally funded research into in determined that federal funds could research on stem cell lines created vitro fertilization). Because of the be used for research involving stem after that point. In an attempt to be extraordinary promise of the cell lines as long as the actual seen as not impeding science, Bush research, the National Institutes of derivation of those cells had been announced that funds could be used, Health (NIH) sought guidance from conducted with private funds. however, for work on the 64 cell lines the general counsel of its parent Armed with this opinion, NIH issued estimated by the administration to be agency, the Department of Health guidelines in August 2000 for in existence as of that point (“Bush and Human Services (DHHS), on the research involving the use of existing Okays Some Stem Cell Research exact applicability of that congres- cell lines and solicited research Funding; Debate Continues,” TGR, sional ban to stem cell research. applications. As applications began August 2001, page 12).

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