Degette: President's Policy Has Chilling Effect on Stem Cells

Degette: President's Policy Has Chilling Effect on Stem Cells

WASHINGTON, DC - In prepared remarks, U.S. Representative Diana DeGette (D-CO) today urged President Bush to revise his Administration's restrictive stem cell policy, which is having a chilling effect on research in the United States:

Today, 206 Republican and Democratic Members of Congress have come together to urge President Bush to change his policy on stem cell research. While we may differ on many other issues, we speak with one voice in warning the President that his current policy has a chilling effect on stem cell research in the United States.

This is a problem with a clear solution: we are sending a letter to President Bush asking that he change his August 2001 Executive Order that has crippled stem cell research in our country. More than two years since this order was issued, only 19 stem cell lines are available to federally funded researchers.

Under any circumstances, nineteen stem cell lines would be wholly inadequate for the United States' advanced research system. But current circumstances have been made worse by the fact that the lines available to researchers have aged and scientists fear they are now contaminated by mouse feeder cells. This has not only hindered the progress of potentially life saving research, it has had a chilling effect on science.

As a result of the President's policy, scientists who want to do stem research in the United States are either taking their talents and expertise to other countries or other areas of science. Researchers should not have to be wary of entering this promising field because of politically motivated policy. But these researchers are wary because the future of this field is held captive by the 2001 Executive Order.

This is an appalling situation. Every day someone is diagnosed with a disease that has no cure. Every day, Americans suffer because of diabetes, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's or cancer.

Stem cell research has the potential to alleviate that suffering and provide a cure. But without the research, these promising discoveries will never reach their potential to save human lives. The merits and failures of stem cell research should be decided in the laboratory, not, in the Oval Office. The millions of Americans waiting for cures should have to rely only on research, not on a change in White House policy.

Each day that this stem cell policy is in effect is a day lost for science. And we know that the science is being suppressed. We know that Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn, an eminent cell biologist, was removed from the President's Council on Bioethics. We know that she supported the need for stem cell research, but because the Chairman of the Council did not agree with that position, she was forced to leave. This dismissal raises serious questions about the President's willingness to hear differing opinions on science policy and undermines the council's ability to provide the President and the public with sound information.

We also know that scientists at the University of Colorado, in my home state, face significant hurdles in conducting stem cell research. Some have struggled to find useable stem cell lines for their research. Others have had to rely strictly on private funding for their research into stem cells' promise in curing Parkinson's disease. Because of the absence of any real government support, this research is under funded and not progressing as it should.

Scientists in the United States discovered stem cells. Under normal circumstances, we would still be the global leaders in stem cell research. But, as a result of the President's executive order, we have lost this leadership to the United Kingdom.

This is not as it should be. As this broad coalition of Members demonstrates, support for stem cell research transcends traditional political divides. Stifling the science and chilling research will not make the promise of stem cells go away. The Members who signed this letter are committed to the science and ask nothing more than for the President to allow science to prevail. We hope that President Bush will work with this bipartisan group to provide the greatest opportunity for stem cell research possible. Too many American patients are waiting.