American stem cell research: politics and policies  (Page 2/4)

In November of 1998, after Dr. Thomson announced the creation of the first human embryonic stem cell line, President Clinton asked NBAC to specifically address human embryonic stem cell research, which had not been discussed in 1997. In 1999, the NBAC recommended that federal funding should be used to support both the research and creation of human embryonic stem cells. They also suggested amending the ban on embryo research (the Dickey Amendment) to allow the derivation and use of embryonic stem cells.

However, before the results of the NBAC deliberations were announced, the National Institutes of Health (NIH)    , specifically the legal council for the DHHS, determined that federal law (the Dickey Amendment) prohibited the use of federal funds to create human embryonic stem cell lines, but they did believe that it was legal to fund research on already existing lines. Private sources were never barred from deriving their own human embryonic stem cell lines and were actively pursuing this area of research. The NIH released guidelines for the federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research for public comment in 1999, followed by an updated version in 2000 in the Federal Register . Before NIH was able to grant money in response to research proposals, a new administration (President George W. Bush) took office and the previous rulings by the DHHS and NIH were set aside.

Meanwhile in the Senate, the Specter-Harkin bill (S.2015) was introduced as the Stem Cell Research Act of 2000 . It called for the federal funding of the derivation and use of human embryonic stem cells from spare donated embryos (IVF), as long as the research did not lead to "reproductive cloning of a human being.” This marked the first of many bi-partisan bills that Congress would see on this issue. The Specter-Harkin bill, like many future bills, was not passed into law.

When President Bush took office, one of his first actions was to temporarily stop all federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research (no grant had been given) while his administration considered their actions. On August 9, 2001, after several months of deliberation, President Bush announced that he would allow the federal funding of the research of human embryonic stem cells, but only those that had been derived before the date of the announcement could be used. Thus, no new embryonic stem cells could be created with federal funds, nor could federal funds be used to do research on new lines create after the August 9, 2001 deadline. NIH estimated at the time that there were as many as 60-75 cell lines available for research. However, since that time, NIH has revised its numbers downward. By the 2004 presidential campaign, NIH had only 22 lines available (see insert “Effect of President Bush’s Stem Cell Policy”).

Since the President’s August 9, 2001 decision, embryonic stem cell policy has remained unchanged. In November 2001, President Bush established the President’s Council on Bioethics (PCB) , a group of experts (similar the NBAC), to address the issues of human cloning, embryonic stem cell research and other bioethical issues. In Congress, new bills were introduced in the 107th and 108th congress, and the Weldon-Stupak bill was passed in House in 2001 and 2003 to ban all forms of cloning and the use of SCNT, but neither passed in the Senate. Almost every year we see each political side introduce their version of a law which would outlaw all human cloning or only reproductive cloning and either outlaw or permit the use of embryonic stem cells, but nothing has been signed into law.