Senators Urge President to Expand
Stem Cell Policy
June 11, 2004 - A bipartisan group of 58 senators sent a
June 4 letter (PDF, 4 pages - 730KB)
to President Bush urging him "to expand the current federal
policy concerning embryonic stem cell research." At present,
the administration's policy limits federal funding only to embryonic
stem cells that were derived by August 9, 2001, the date of the
policy announcement.
The letter states, "[S]ince the policy went into effect more
than two years ago, we have learned that the embryonic stem cell
lines eligible for federal funding will not be suitable to effectively
promote this research. We therefore feel it is essential to relax
the restrictions in the current policy for this research to be fully
explored."
The letter notes, "While it originally appeared that 78 embryonic
stem cell lines would be available for research under the federal
policy, now, more than two years after August 9, 2001, only 19 are
available to researchers." The letter also points out "All
available stem cell lines are contaminated with mouse feeder cells,
making their therapeutic use for humans uncertain."
The letter was originated by Senators Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Dianne
Feinstein (D-Calif.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.),
and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the authors of legislation (S.
303) to ban human reproductive cloning, but allow nuclear transplantation
research to continue under strict federal guidelines. The letter
is similar to one sent by 206 Members of the House of Representatives
to the president in late April [see Washington
Highlights, April 30].
Information:
Dave Moore, Senior Director
AAMC Government Relations
dbmoore@aamc.org
(202) 828-0525
Tony Mazzaschi, Senior Associate Vice President
AAMC Biomedical Health Sciences Research
tmazzaschi@aamc.org
(202) 828-0059
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