|
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
Kerry on the Record: Stem Cell Research Dave Eberhart, NewsMax.comEditor’s note: This is Part 14 in a series revealing the Democratic front-runner’s track record on the important issues of the day.
Part 1: POWs and MIAs Before the events of 9/11 forever changed the political landscape, the great scientific and moral dilemma of stem cell research held considerable sway. And long before Sen. John Kerry, D, Mass., declared his candidacy -- much less rose to top of the Democratic presidential heap -- he and the president had drawn a distinct line in the sand on the volatile issue. Kerry was an outspoken co-sponsor of the Stem Cell Research Act of 2001, a bill to allow federally-funded scientists to derive stem cells from human embryos -- if those embryos are obtained from IVF clinics, if the donor has provided informed consent, and the embryo was no longer needed for fertility treatments. When all was said and done, however, Chief Executive Bush got his way, decreeing after much personal deliberation and consultation with experts that stem cell colonies produced before Aug. 9, 2001 could continue to receive federal funding for research purposes -- but no federal money could go to develop new stem cells from embryos. Private money, however, could continue to finance such work. Among a host of other considerations, the administration cited that the morally troubling unfettered invasion of human embryos for stem cells was not so vital -- because “adult” stem cells can be used effectively in research to pursue treatments or cures for disease. Stem cells are a body’s building blocks and morph to become many different types of cells. Scientists think the cells can be coaxed into specific cells to repair organs or treat diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Stem cells can be taken from days-old embryos and the cells grown in a laboratory into “lines” or colonies. These embryonic stem cells should be differentiated from “adult” stem cells, which exist naturally in our brains, bone marrow, and hair follicles. Like embryonic stem cells, these adult cells also have the amazing ability to migrate wherever they are needed and multiply into armies of new cells to form skin and bone, blood or brain. The Bush ruling did not limit research using adult stem cells. With that basic history done, enter now the all-but-formally-frocked Democratic nominee Kerry. 'The Man for Science' Whenever the stem cell subject can squeeze in a moment among Iraq, the economy, jobs, or the 9/11 Commission, Kerry touts that he’s the man – the man for science.
The bottom line is that Kerry has pledged to increase stem cell research if elected president. Charging that the Bush administration has an “anti-science attitude,” Kerry, a practicing Roman Catholic, has steered clear of berating George Bush’s own strong faith that has made the president less than comfortable with stem cell research that involves using human embryos. Instead, his usual refrain is that Bush misled the country when he said years ago that 60 stem cell lines were available for research – when, according to Kerry, the National Institute of Health’s stem cell registry only listed 11 such lines. “Nothing illustrates this administration’s anti-science attitude better than George Bush’s cynical decision to limit research on embryonic stem cells,” Kerry said in a 2003 speech. “It was wrong for George Bush to mislead America about Iraq’s search for uranium in Africa and other aspects of war. But to mislead the country about America’s search for hope for their loved ones and for cures for diseases is unconscionable.” But when Kerry made his dramatic charge, the real truth of the matter was that the actual number of embryonic stem cells lines available to researchers was in a state of flux. When the NIH cranked up its Stem Cell Registry to finally document existing stem cell lines and their availability, the raw tally was actually more than the president’s advertised 60. The Presidential List A total of 78 stem cell sources were catalogued and approved for what is known as the “Presidential List,” which includes all the derivations -- cell lines or samples of cells frozen away -- that can be studied using federal funds. What keeps Kerry out of real trouble as to his 2003 harangue against the president, however, is the fact that of the 78 approved cells, only 12 are currently available for distribution. These cell lines are listed in the NIH Human Embryonic Stem Cell Registry. Occasional Kerry rhetorical flourishes like the one above -- even were they wholly correct -- are blown away by a tempest of Kerry’s own making. Kerry’s pro-abortion, pro-embryonic stem cell research stances have caused a major flap in the leadership of his own church. Although never denied Holy Communion at mass, Kerry is one of those pols the Church has indicated should abstain from the sacrament – voluntarily. Kerry’s basic position is that Bush’s decision in 2001 to limit federally funded stem cell research only to existing lines hampers important research. In a position paper filed back in 2001, Catholic Kerry ironically and mysteriously intimates that religious conviction is the key ingredient in his mindset: “Leaders with deep religious convictions, leaders of the scientific community, and those of us who’ve watched loved ones suffer from diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Disease, together understand why we need to lift the ban on stem cell research. The current ban ties the hands of the medical community and prevents them from committing the resources needed to the research offers hope to millions of Americans suffering today. We can not in good conscience delay or deny the world’s best scientists from moving towards the day when we have cures for these devastating diseases, and we want to work with the Bush Administration to pursue a thoughtful, expeditious, and nonpartisan answer to the situation in which we find ourselves today…. “[I]t is far too early to know if adult stem cells have the same potential for disease treatment as embryonic stem cells. For diseases that cannot be treated with adult stem cells, impeding embryonic stem cell research risks unnecessary delay for patients who may die or endure needless suffering while the effectiveness of adult stem cells is evaluated. This work could impact the lives of millions of Americans suffering from Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS, heart disease, cancer, diabetes and spinal cord injuries.” More Funding for NIH Kerry likes to team up his after-I’m-elected pledge to end Bush’s “block” on federally funded stem cell research with another promise to increase funding for the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies that sponsor medical research. But early on in the primary season, this latter innuendo that Bush has been cheap on health research was put down by folks such as Julie Teer, a spokeswoman for the New Hampshire Republican Party, who said that Kerry “throws facts out the window” in criticizing Bush over medical research, maintaining that funding for NIH has doubled during the Bush administration. “This is the president that has provided the leadership to double the funding that goes into the NIH for the development of cures for diseases, and also for critical research into prevention, detection and the treatment of diseases,” she said. When Bush moved to restrain embryonic stem cell research, he kept the lid on a veritable Pandora’s Box. Lurking in there are not only wild and incredible potentials but a morass of ethical issues that make take years to grasp and deal with:
With such heady issues in mind, President Bush’s theme re stem cell research has been and continues to be to “proceed carefully” – rather than simply open the floodgates as Kerry has suggested. Bush has said he will be guided in the future by the workings of the presidential commission on the subject. This month, April, the President’s Council on Bioethics issued its latest report, “Reproduction and Responsibility: The Regulation of New Biotechnologies.” Dr. Leon Kass, head of the council, recently noted some of the hallmarks of the report to National Public Radio: “First, we call for a federally funded prospective study on the health and well-being of children born with the aid of assisted reproductive technologies. Over a million such children have been born worldwide, but to date we know next to nothing about how well they are faring. Second, we call on Congress to defend the dignity of human procreation by enacting moratoria on certain morally dubious reproductive practices: putting human embryos into animal uteruses; mixing human and animal egg and sperm; starting human pregnancies for purposes of research or growing body parts; conceiving children other than by union of egg and sperm (derived from adults); buying, selling, and patenting of human embryos; and limitless research on human embryos in the private sector.” It’s hard to find the “cynicism” Kerry ascribes to the current Bush policy in the workings of the president’s council. As Bush said in his famous Crawford, Texas address on the subject: “As we go forward, I hope we will always be guided by both intellect and heart, by both our capabilities and our conscience.
Editor's note:
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
|
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
| All Rights Reserved © 2009 NewsMax.Com |