SENATORS ASK BUSH TO RELAX STEM CELL BAN (6-2004)

Last Month, prior to her husband’s death, Nancy Reagan 
appeared at a Los Angeles fund raiser to promote embryonic 
stem cell research. The late President Ronald Reagan had 
waged a 10-year battle against Alzheimer’s disease, a 
malady that could possibly be cured if stem cell therapy is 
ever perfected.

Now, the majority of U.S. senators have asked President 
Bush to relax his restrictions on the use of human embryos 
to produce new stem cell lines. 

A day before Reagan died, 58 senators sent a letter to Bush 
asking him to reconsider his 2001 executive order which 
bans federal funding of research on embryonic stem cells. 
Several of the senators who want bush to back off his stern 
opposition to allowing such research are abortion foes.

The letter follows a similar letter sent to Bush in April 
signed by 206 members of the House of Representatives. The 
senate letter includes the signatures of 43 democrats, an 
independent, and 14 republicans.

In the letter the senators wrote, “We would very much like 
to work with you to modify the current embryonic stem cell 
policy so that it provides this area of research the 
greatest opportunity to lead to the treatments and cures 
for which we are all hoping.”

Although the letter was written before Reagan’s death, some 
senators believe his passing might add more immediacy to 
the effort to persuade Bush to relax his opposition to the 
research.  Sen. Orrin Hatch said it would be hard for 
anyone not to have empathy toward Mrs. Reagan as she 
continues her campaign in favor of embryonic stem cell 
research.

Because the embryos are destroyed when the cells are 
extracted, the process is opposed by some conservatives who 
link it to abortion. And, apparently, the president remains 
intransigent on the subject. 

Ken Lisaius, White House spokesman, said Bush stood by his 
stem cell policy. He said that, although Bush favors stem 
cell research, he remains strongly opposed to research that 
would involve the use of human embryos.

Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that have the 
capacity to grow into almost any tissue. They hold the 
promise of allowing doctors to replace damaged tissue with 
newly grown tissue from stem cells. Although they can be 
harvested from other sources, stem cells derived from human 
embryos seem to hold the most promise for growing new 
tissues.

Researchers can use discarded embryos left over from in-
vitro fertilization attempts. These embryos are destined to 
be destroyed anyway. But Bush’s executive order prohibits 
researchers that get federal funding from using them.

Although Bush has allowed the use of preexisting cell lines 
in research, the senators’ letter claims that only 19 of 
those lines are now available to researchers and those 
available are contaminated with mouse feeder cells. That 
makes their use for humans uncertain.

Elected officials from both parties and from both houses of 
government agree that research on embryonic stem cells must 
be allowed. Their life-saving potential makes it imperative 
that restrictions on the research be lifted.

But Bush has put his own personal compunctions ahead of 
what is best for society. With the stroke of a pen, he has 
put a three-year hiatus on research that could have been 
well on its way to leading to cures for many of the most 
dreaded genetic diseases. 

He has made sweeping decisions based not on what is best 
for the country, but on his personal religious convictions. 
In short, he has become a theocratic president.

Bush would be well advised to reevaluate his hard-line 
stance against stem cell research prior to the November 
elections. In a democracy the majority rules. Bush seems to 
have neglected that little axiom.