Melissa Giaimo
Assistant Perspectives Editor
With yet another bill before Congress and fresh scientific developments, the embryonic stem cell research debate takes another turn. It is now clearer than ever that without conclusive findings on the effectiveness of embryonic stem cells, it is irresponsible for Congress to authorize additional federal funding, especially when embryonic stem cells have failed to cure a single disease.
The House of Representatives passed a bill, 253-174, last Thursday, Jan. 11, broadening federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, which requires the killing of human embryos. The President promises to veto the bill, which fell short of the veto-proof margin, should it pass in the senate.
The bill resurfaces the debate that President Bush tried to compromise back in August, 2001 by restricting federal funding of embryonic stem cell research to the 21 cell lines that already existed. The policy did not offer federal aid to scientists extracting stem cells from new embryos.
Although the bill passed the House, new scientific breakthroughs offer the Bush Administration a chance to win the greater stem cell debate. Just days before the House voted to authorize funding, scientists at Wake Forest University announced the discovery of stem cells in amniotic-fluid, which surrounds the fetus in the placenta. Not only do these cells not require killing humans, but they also do not form tumors, a fault of embryonic stem cells. Amniotic cells also share many of the positive, unique attributes of embryonic stem cells.
Through a process called differentiation, scientists can specialize stem cells, unlike other cells, into any type of cell to replace damaged cells, providing potential cures for cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other illnesses. The debate is not over the cells’ utility but their source.
Contrary to popular belief, human embryos are not the only source of stem cells. Embryonic germ cells, umbilical cord cells, adult cells and now amniotic cells are other sources. But embryonic stem cells are the only type that requires the destruction of human life.
Although no patient has been cured by embryonic stem cell research, adult stem cells have offered successful treatment to 72 patients. In fact, research shows that embryonic stem cells can be harmful to patients, forming tumors when transplanted into adult tissue. After the disastrous outcomes of animal research, scientists have yet to use embryonic stem cells in human studies. Although adult stem cells are sometimes not as flexible, or pluripotent, as embryonic stem cells, at least they are reaching cures.
Nevertheless, supporters persist in championing embryonic stem cells as the foundation for anticipated cures.
Despite embryonic stem cell lobbyists’ misleading rhetoric, it is a biological fact that an embryo is a human life. No one contests that anything but a human being will grow from a human embryo. There are strict limitations on experimentation using full grown humans, so why not for embryos?
Some argue that it is morally permissible to use stem cells derived from “excess” embryos from fertility clinics, because these embryos will otherwise be destroyed. After all, why not extract some good from the embryos? But this logic is faulty. If a human embryo has the potency to develop to a full human being, then conducting lethal research on an embryo is morally equivalent to conducting unethical research on a convict on death row.
Scientists disguise the harsh profiteering of embryonic stem cells under the noble shroud of medical research. Stem cells are a business. Clinics will offer a woman fertility treatment at half price – a mere $3,000 – if she donates half the eggs she produces, because the clinic can gain tremendous profits by selling the embryos to stem cell researchers. The embryos scientists extract stem cell lines from are not merely “excess;” they are cultivated.
Since 2001, the Bush administration has devoted $130 million in research on the approved cell lines. It is appropriate that as alternative and more effective sources of stem cell research emerge, the reliance upon stem cell lines developed from the destruction of embryos will become unnecessary and eliminated.
If you follow the money, you will see that investing in embryonic stem cell research has dipped significantly.
“After years of delays, disappointments, and dead ends, most of the venture capital that once flowed into these ventures is slowing down and awaiting better science to come out of institutions and academic research,” Forbes magazine said in 2004.
From 1994 to 2004, investors only spent $300 million in stem cell research, out of the approximate $30 billion placed in biotechnology, according to the Forbes article. And almost all $300 million went towards adult stem cell research, not embryonic.
“From a Wall Street perspective, adult stem cells are a much better investment,” said Stephen Dunn of Dawson James Securities to CNN. “These are the guys who are going to be in the news.”
If Wall Street is hesitant to invest in embryonic stem cell research, then the government, using taxpayers’ dollars, should be too. Denial of federal funding does not mean embryonic stem research is illegal. It simply requires researchers to rely on private or state funding.
Why are scientists not pursuing the most effective route to a cure? Embryonic stem cells have major drawbacks: they have not cured anyone and they present a serious ethical dilemma. Yet, scientists still insist that taxpayers support embryonic stem cell research.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, asked Story Landis, an official from NIH, how Bush’s 2001 policy was affecting medical research.
“We are missing out on possible breakthroughs,” Ladis said. Experimenting with newly derived stem cell colonies – which Bush’s policy restricts from federal funding – “would be incredibly important.”
But here is where the NIH is wrong. Forget the “possible breakthroughs” of embryonic stem cell research. Real breakthroughs are happening right now everywhere but embryonic stem cells.
The government needs to spend its money wisely. That means investing where there lies a cure. The government already invested in embryonic stem cell research in 2001, they do not need increase funding. What’s more, something is wrong when those trying to find a cure to save human life demand killing human life along the way.
01-25-2007