Politics

White House Pressed On Stem Cells

June 21, 2001 / 12:40 PM EDT / AP

The Bush administration is being pressed by some Republicans to support research that uses stem cells from human embryos, a practice opposed by a number of abortion foes because it involves embryos discarded by fertility clinics.

Several Republicans, including long-term abortion opponent Sen. Orrin Hatch, contend that such research is legal, ethical and scientifically valuable.

"I have rarely, if ever, observed such genuine excitement for the prospects of future progress than is presented by embryonic stem cell research," Hatch wrote in a letter to President Bush.

He added that other Republican abortion opponents - like Sens. Strom Thurmond, Gordon Smith and Connie Mack - believe Mr. Bush should "lead the way for this vital research."

In a separate letter to the president, moderate Sen. Susan Collins said, "Stem cell research holds tremendous potential to treat and even cure a vast array of diseases and conditions." She added that researchers agree that "it will take years of further study to determine the therapeutic potential of adult stem cells (taken from mature tissue)."

There's no immediate word on whether the administration has responded to the senators.

"The issue is being reviewed right now, and beyond that we have no comment," said Tony Jewell, a spokesman for Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson.

The department oversees federal spending on medical research.

Stem cells are building blocks for all human tissue. The most versatile cells are derived from embryos discarded at fertility clinics, but some abortion opponents say it is wrong to use them for research.

Research proponents say the embryos are being destroyed anyway and that using them could lead to revolutionary treatments for Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, spinal cord injuries and other ailments.

Congress has barred federal money for research that destroys embryos. But late in the Clinton administration, officials decided that the National Institutes of Health could pay for research using cells that had been extracted by privately funded research.

Earlier this year, the new Bush administration suspended that policy, saying it needed time to review questions of scientific value and ethics. Abortion opponents have pressured the White House to permanently overrule the policy.

Meanwhile, the issue of human cloning for medical research has also sparked an ethical debate.

Appearing Tuesday before a House subcommittee on health, Deputy Health Secretary Claude Allen stopped short of endorsing an outright ban on the cloning of human embryos for medical research. He said the administration wants "to prohibit morally offensive uses of cloning technology,'' without stifling disease research.

Some lawmakers in Congress have proposed a total ban on that practice and on any human cloning experiments or funding.