Their very name raises hackles—embryonic stem cells. These are the cells that populate the early embryo and give rise to all of the body’s tissues. These are the cells that can be grown in virtually limitless quantities in the laboratory. And these are the cells that scientists hope will someday provide replacements for cells damaged in diabetes and other disease states.
Embryonic stem cells come from human embryos—those created by in vitro fertilization and donated to research in lieu of being discarded—landing the cells squarely at the center of political debate. Should the federal government support embryonic stem cell research?
Congress has repeatedly passed legislation barring federal funding for any research that involves the creation or destruction of human embryos. Private funding supported isolation of the first human embryonic stem cells in 1998 by investigators at the University of Wisconsin and Johns Hopkins University. In 2001, President Bush decided that federal funds could support embryonic stem cell research, but only using stem cell lines that existed as of August 9 that year.
The controversy and “political chill” have hindered stem cell research in the United States, says Douglas Melton, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Harvard University. “One can imagine in another circumstance, the best and brightest young people would be very much attracted to the area of stem cell research. We don’t see that happening,” he says.
“Scientifically, it doesn’t make sense to only have access to these particular cell lines when people are just now discovering how best to grow human embryonic stem cells,” adds Christopher Wright, a developmental biologist at Vanderbilt University.
The research is proceeding in the United States, but not as rapidly as in countries with fewer restrictions. Some universities, including Harvard and Stanford, have established private foundations to support human embryonic stem cell research. Relieving the “chill” and boosting stem cell research in the United States requires a public better informed about the issues, Melton says.
“These are complex issues about when life begins, and there may not be universal answers,” he says. “But we shouldn’t shy away from this discussion.”