The media are struggling to promote excitement over new embryonic stem cell lines becoming eligible for federal research funding. It is a change to be sure, but I think way too much is being made of it. From the Washington Post story:
Launching a dramatic expansion of government support for one of the most promising but most contentious fields of biomedical research, the National Institutes of Health on Wednesday authorized the first 13 lines of cells under the administration’s policy and was poised to approve 20 more Friday. “This is the first down payment on what is going to be a much longer list that will empower the scientific community to explore the potential of embryonic stem cell research,” said NIH Director Francis S. Collins. “Today’s announcement is the first wave.” An additional 76 stem cell lines are awaiting vetting, and researchers have indicated that they plan to submit at least 254 more for approval.
The NIH has already authorized 31 grants worth about $21 million for research on human embryonic stem cells, money that was contingent on new lines passing government muster. The grants are for a variety of research, including work aimed at developing cells that could be used to treat diseases of the heart and nervous system. Many other grant requests have been submitted by researchers hoping to use some of the $10 billion the NIH received as part of the economic stimulus, Collins said. “We’ve been waiting with bated breath to get started,” said George Daley, a stem cell researcher at Children’s Hospital in Boston who created 11 of the lines approved Wednesday. “We could do today what we couldn’t do yesterday.”
Oh, please. There were never any federal funding restrictions on embryonic stem cell research under Bush. More than $3 billion was poured into the field during his tenure in the USA alone , tens of millions annually from the Bush NIH. Nor, were there any regulatory restrictions on the conduct of the research itself that have been changed. Indeed, perhaps with the exception of that extra stimulus funding, there are no guarantees that Obama will fund ESCR any more bounteously than Bush did.
The whole controversy was more symbolic than concrete. Yes, it will now be easier logistically for researchers and there will be more lines upon which to research. But the real battle had to do with the message Bush sent—that it is wrong to use human life instrumentally. That is what the raw emotionalism was really all about. Besides, this part of the great stem cell debate is over. Adult stem cell and IPSC successes have robbed ESCR of its political potency.
The real issue is cloning. But that won’t begin until and unless scientists can actually do it in humans. When that happens, watch out! Until then, we are in the calm before the storm.
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