Stem-cell research promises significant medical advances. It may lead to treatment for diseases and disabilities such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, spinal cord injury, stroke, burns, heart disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. The possibilities are endless.
However, at the behest of anti-choice forces, President Bush has placed nearly insurmountable constraints on this vital research. President Bush has decided that the federal government may only conduct or fund research on stem-cell lines derived before the arbitrary date of August 9, 2001. This policy is both ethically incoherent and seriously damaging to this critical medical research.
The existing stem-cell lines simply are not sufficient to allow researchers to develop the cures that could otherwise be anticipated. Thus, time is running out for millions of disease sufferers, and much research that would otherwise be undertaken in the public sector has been forced into the private realm, where it does not receive the benefit of the strict ethical scrutiny and oversight that comes with public funding.
