Max
08-12-2001, 06:27 AM
Bush Policy Could Impede Stem Cell Work -Scientists
Slideshows
Stem Cell Research Debate
Audio/Video
Bush's Stem-Cell Research Compromise Draws Criticism - (ABCNEWS.com)
Bush Approves of Limited Stem-Cell Research - (KPRC, Houston)
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists expressed concern and some bafflement on Friday over limits placed by President Bush (news - web sites) on research on embryonic stem-cell lines, with many worrying the restrictions could boost the work overseas and allow it to wither in the United States.
Bush announced on Thursday he would allow federal funds to pay for research involving stem cells -- primitive master cells that can transform themselves into other cell types -- harvested from live human embryos.
But he said the research must use the 60 existing stem-cell lines, each of which are a reservoir of stem cells derived from a single embryo.
Leading scientists said they had no idea where Bush got the figure of 60 such lines -- some saying they knew of only 10 -- and were worried about gaining access to the stem-cell lines.
``At the moment, I'm sitting here in California without the foggiest idea of what 60 stem cell lines he's referring to,'' Paul Berg, a Stanford University cancer researcher who received the 1980 Nobel Prize in chemistry, said in an interview.
``And I've talked to a bunch of people and everybody's asking the same question -- what's he talking about?''
Scientists said there was also no guarantee researchers from universities who would receive grant money from the National Institutes of Health (news - web sites) would be able to gain access to the stem cells.
John Gearhart, a pioneering researcher at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore who helped isolate the first embryonic stem cells in 1998, said Bush's policy ``has some limitations, but it is a good place to start to expand the base of scientists doing this research.''
``I'm uncertain about the location and origin of the 60 cell lines he referred to in his statement or how it will be determined whether a particular cell line existed as of last night's policy declaration,'' Gearhart said in a statement.
Stem cell researcher Dr. Diane Krause of Yale University School of Medicine said the stem cell lines ``were made in privately funded laboratories so whether or not they're even going to be freely available ... to federally funded researchers isn't clear at all.''
A FIELD WITH GREAT PROMISE
Federal funding should allow academic researchers to explore the promise of harnessing the transformational quality of embryonic stem cells for treating a variety of diseases. The hope is to be able to regenerate healthy tissue to replace tissue damaged by disease or injury. They hope to use the cells to treat juvenile diabetes, Alzheimer's disease (news - web sites), Parkinson's disease (news - web sites), stroke, heart attack and other ailments.
Dr. Douglas Melton, chairman of the cellular and molecular biology department at Harvard University, said the private institutes and companies controlling stem cell lines may try to attach conditions on any research. He cited Geron Corp., a Menlo Park, California biotech company that has backed research by Gearhart and fellow pioneer Dr. James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin.
``Geron controls the quantity of cells which one receives, but more importantly the types of experiments which you can do. Most universities such as the one where I work do not allow researchers to accept the material with those restrictions,'' Melton said.
Other scientists said the limits imposed on the work in the United States could benefit research centers in other countries and perhaps drive American scientists overseas to pursue their field.
One top scientist, Roger Pedersen of the University of California at San Francisco, last month announced plans to pursue his research at Britain's University of Cambridge.
Dr. Rafael Beyar, dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, said he would not be surprised if American researchers contact his institution about performing stem cell research there.
``And we would certainly encourage it. If scientists from the United States would like to come and work with us, we'd be delighted,'' said Beyar, whose institute in recent weeks has announced key developments relating to the use of embryonic stem cells to treat heart disease and diabetes.
``Any place where research is limited means that other places will benefit,'' Beyar said.
Berg said the limits could drive researchers out of the embryonic stem cell field. ``It really puts a big damper on the kinds of things that people will do and how many people will come into the field,'' Berg said.
Quadriplegic actor Christopher Reeve, who heads a foundation that backs research toward a cure for paralysis caused by spinal cord injury, said, ``I would just hate to see the United States lose its preeminence as a place of great scientific inquiry. We've always been leaders in research.''
Slideshows
Stem Cell Research Debate
Audio/Video
Bush's Stem-Cell Research Compromise Draws Criticism - (ABCNEWS.com)
Bush Approves of Limited Stem-Cell Research - (KPRC, Houston)
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists expressed concern and some bafflement on Friday over limits placed by President Bush (news - web sites) on research on embryonic stem-cell lines, with many worrying the restrictions could boost the work overseas and allow it to wither in the United States.
Bush announced on Thursday he would allow federal funds to pay for research involving stem cells -- primitive master cells that can transform themselves into other cell types -- harvested from live human embryos.
But he said the research must use the 60 existing stem-cell lines, each of which are a reservoir of stem cells derived from a single embryo.
Leading scientists said they had no idea where Bush got the figure of 60 such lines -- some saying they knew of only 10 -- and were worried about gaining access to the stem-cell lines.
``At the moment, I'm sitting here in California without the foggiest idea of what 60 stem cell lines he's referring to,'' Paul Berg, a Stanford University cancer researcher who received the 1980 Nobel Prize in chemistry, said in an interview.
``And I've talked to a bunch of people and everybody's asking the same question -- what's he talking about?''
Scientists said there was also no guarantee researchers from universities who would receive grant money from the National Institutes of Health (news - web sites) would be able to gain access to the stem cells.
John Gearhart, a pioneering researcher at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore who helped isolate the first embryonic stem cells in 1998, said Bush's policy ``has some limitations, but it is a good place to start to expand the base of scientists doing this research.''
``I'm uncertain about the location and origin of the 60 cell lines he referred to in his statement or how it will be determined whether a particular cell line existed as of last night's policy declaration,'' Gearhart said in a statement.
Stem cell researcher Dr. Diane Krause of Yale University School of Medicine said the stem cell lines ``were made in privately funded laboratories so whether or not they're even going to be freely available ... to federally funded researchers isn't clear at all.''
A FIELD WITH GREAT PROMISE
Federal funding should allow academic researchers to explore the promise of harnessing the transformational quality of embryonic stem cells for treating a variety of diseases. The hope is to be able to regenerate healthy tissue to replace tissue damaged by disease or injury. They hope to use the cells to treat juvenile diabetes, Alzheimer's disease (news - web sites), Parkinson's disease (news - web sites), stroke, heart attack and other ailments.
Dr. Douglas Melton, chairman of the cellular and molecular biology department at Harvard University, said the private institutes and companies controlling stem cell lines may try to attach conditions on any research. He cited Geron Corp., a Menlo Park, California biotech company that has backed research by Gearhart and fellow pioneer Dr. James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin.
``Geron controls the quantity of cells which one receives, but more importantly the types of experiments which you can do. Most universities such as the one where I work do not allow researchers to accept the material with those restrictions,'' Melton said.
Other scientists said the limits imposed on the work in the United States could benefit research centers in other countries and perhaps drive American scientists overseas to pursue their field.
One top scientist, Roger Pedersen of the University of California at San Francisco, last month announced plans to pursue his research at Britain's University of Cambridge.
Dr. Rafael Beyar, dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, said he would not be surprised if American researchers contact his institution about performing stem cell research there.
``And we would certainly encourage it. If scientists from the United States would like to come and work with us, we'd be delighted,'' said Beyar, whose institute in recent weeks has announced key developments relating to the use of embryonic stem cells to treat heart disease and diabetes.
``Any place where research is limited means that other places will benefit,'' Beyar said.
Berg said the limits could drive researchers out of the embryonic stem cell field. ``It really puts a big damper on the kinds of things that people will do and how many people will come into the field,'' Berg said.
Quadriplegic actor Christopher Reeve, who heads a foundation that backs research toward a cure for paralysis caused by spinal cord injury, said, ``I would just hate to see the United States lose its preeminence as a place of great scientific inquiry. We've always been leaders in research.''