Editorial: An Rx for stem cell research

Sen. Bill Frist of Tennessee counts himself among those who oppose abortion rights. He is a Republican. He is a conservative.

He is also a physician, a surgeon who specializes in heart and lung transplants. He counts himself among those who support embryonic stem cell research for the enormous potential it has to provide treatments for spinal cord injuries, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and other serious health problems.

Frist has weighed the ethical, moral and professional questions on this issue from a perspective that is unique to the U.S. Senate. He has proposed a solution. Don't call it a compromise; any issue that touches on the deeply emotional question of abortion seems immune from compromise. And Frist's solution won't please all sides. It may please nobody.

But it is a reasonable solution. President Bush, who is carefully weighing a decision on whether to permit government funding for such research, would be wise to accept it.

Federal funding for embryonic stem cell research should be permitted "within a carefully regulated, fully transparent framework," Frist told a Senate subcommittee last week.

Here are the key points of his proposal.

- Federal funding would be permitted for research using only embryonic stem cells derived from blastocysts (small groupings of cells) that were created for the purpose of in vitro fertilization and would otherwise be discarded.

- The creation of human embryos for research purposes--as scientists at a Virginia fertility clinic recently announced they had done--would be prohibited by law. Human cloning would be prohibited.

- Federal rules would require that donors be informed of their options to discard their blastocysts or donate them for adoption, and, if they choose the former, to turn them over for research. No research could be done without donor consent.

- Federal funds would be permitted for research on a limited number of stem-cell lines and could not be used to derive the stem cells.

Frist also calls for public oversight and ongoing ethical reviews of stem cell research and increased funding for adult stem cell research. What he has proposed would permit federal funding for a remarkably promising line of medical research, while guaranteeing strict guidelines for the research.

No, this will not please those who believe that the government would be paying for the destruction of life. It probably will run into objections from some who will say the government will be setting too heavy a hand on medical research.

But it will do this: It will permit a promising, yet ethically troubling, avenue of research. It will limit that research to embryonic stem cells that were created for the purpose of giving life, yet are destined, regardless of whether they are turned over for research, to be destroyed.

President Bush has, to his credit, taken his time with this decision. He has listened to scientists, to ethicists, to church leaders including, in the last week, Pope John Paul II. He has an extremely vexing decision to make.

Frist has given the president the guidelines for an answer, one that could save many lives. Frist is a close adviser to Bush on medical issues, so it is hoped that his views will carry significant weight at the White House.

But if Bush decides to oppose all embryonic stem cell research, the issue may not be over. There is movement in Congress to fund the research and Frist's opinions will carry influence there. It needn't come to Congress overriding the president, though. Bush has the opportunity to make a morally grounded decision to permit scientific advancement.

Related topic galleries: Health Treatments, Medical Specialization, Medical Research, Government, Diseases, Charity, Heads of State

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