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Restrictions leave U.S.
research on stem cells
far behind

THE ISSUE South Korean scientists have made significant advances in stem cell research.

AS scientists in South Korea make stunning advances in stem cell research that hold great hope for treatments of a range of diseases and conditions, President Bush is bucking a Republican-controlled Congress that wants to expand federal funding for studies.

Bush's restrictions on the amount of federal money for research and the number of stem cell colonies have effectively checked progress in the United States. But the nation's reach stops at its borders and continuing to obstruct homeland developments will only leave Americans in the backwash. Moreover, as states like California and New Jersey and private studies push into the research front, the government's constraints will become even more irrelevant.

South Korean researchers in the journal Science last week reported on a highly efficient method for producing embryos by cloning, then extracting their stem cells. The process used genetic material from a patient's cell to replace genes in an unfertilized egg from another person, thereby generating an embryo identical to the patient. This allows scientists to study origins of diseases and to develop replacement cells that would less likely be rejected. The process is far from human application, but its efficiency and larger stem cell gains represent a significant breakthrough.

The objection to such research flows from a belief that it "destroys life in order to save life," as Bush said last week. The president, in an unusual threat, vowed to veto a measure pending in the House.

The bill would remove Bush's ban on funding for research on stem cell lines developed after August 2001 and allow work on stem cells culled from embryos left over from fertility treatment that would ordinarily be discarded. It would not allow the kind of therapeutic cloning studies done in South Korea or destruction of embryos.

However, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch has already introduced a Senate measure that would and that has considerable support among his colleagues, including that of Arlen Specter, who heads a subcommittee that controls medical research funding.

Cloning conjures up images of scientists creating actual babies, but there is no interest or processes for such work. Dr. Hwang Woo-suk, leader of the South Korean team, points out that his government, which fully supports the research, has made it a criminal offense to implant a cloned embryo into a woman's uterus, adding "It should be banned throughout the world."

The United States should consider following that lead. Such restrictions would ease fears and moral objections among anti-abortion and conservative forces. However, current U.S. limits assure that cures for Parkinson's disease, diabetes and Alzheimer's will lag far behind.

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