US stem cell news

John Kerry, the Democrat candidate likely to be up in opposition to President Bush in the US presidential elections in November, has pledged to increase the availability of federal funds for human embryonic stem cell (ES cell) research if he is elected. Speaking last week at a campaign appearance in Denver, he said that 'Americans deserve a president who believes in science'. Before the speech, 48 Nobel prize-winning US scientists endorsed what Kerry would say in an 'Open Letter to the American People'. They claim that the Bush administration has ignored scientific advice and is 'impeding medical advances'.

Currently in the US, ES cell scientists can only receive federal funds for ES cell research if they work on stem cell lines created before 9 August 2001, when Bush announced the policy. Scientists say that there are actually fewer lines available to them than was estimated by Bush and the National Institutes of Health on that date. Additionally, since that date, new and improved ways have been found of producing ES cells, for example, without the use of mouse 'feeder' cells. Kerry told the meeting that Bush had let 'ideology trump science', adding 'it is vital we lift these barriers that stand in the way of stem cell research'. While he acknowledged that there should be ethical oversight of such research, he continued: 'We have the common sense to do both. With leadership that isn't ideological, we will do both'.

Two days later, legislation supported by members of both political parties was introduced to Congress, which would require the US government to fund ES cell research. The bill, sponsored by Michael Castle (Republican) and Diana De Gette (Democrat), would allow federally funded ES cell research to take place on supernumerary embryos left over from IVF procedures and designated as 'medical waste' by fertility centres. De Gette said that 'government policy - not scientific limitation - is now holding stem cell research back', adding 'now is the time for Congress and this administration to recognise that the current policy does not work'. However, a spokesman for the House of Representatives said that despite the support it has, the bill is likely to be 'doomed' this year, as it was unlikely to be offered as a free-standing proposal.

Meanwhile, the Senate in the state of Louisiana, which has recently been debating competing bills on cloning and ES cell research, has failed to approve any legislation before the end of its session. Two of the bills it was debating would have banned all forms of cloning, while another would have allowed only cloning for research purposes. A further bill proposed a 'compromise', allowing research on cloned embryos that were imported into the state, but not created there. Governor Kathleen Blanco said that she was 'disappointed' that none of the bills had been approved, adding that 'by the time the partners were willing to compromise, I guess it was a little too late'.