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Policy

More On Stem Cell Research

November 8, 2010 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 88, Issue 45

At a time when foreign countries are expanding their economies by embracing government support and funding of science and technology, the U.S. seems to exist in a climate of anti-intellectualism where experts are not to be believed and the mantras that “government is the problem” and “free enterprise is the best” are widely held dogmas. While science and technology is waxing in Asia—and doing so with rich government support—science and technology is waning in the U.S. given our current political climate, including a distrusted government fraught with partisan demagoguery and the rise of political hacks (C&EN, Aug. 30, page 4; Sept. 13, page 6).

As an example, witness the incomprehension of stem cell research by many in the public and their support of the injunction against the use of tax dollars for human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research by U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth. This decision is hindering the U.S. from remaining in the forefront of science and technology in the stem cell field. Judge Lamberth cited the Dickey-Wicker Amendment in his decision to cease federal funding of hESC research. The Dickey-Wicker Amendment is a rider to a bill passed in 1995 that prohibits the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) from using tax dollars for the creation of human embryos for research purposes or for research in which the embryos are destroyed. The rider has been added to each of the Labor, HHS, and Education appropriations acts for fiscal 1997 through fiscal 2009.

Although the Obama Administration is appealing Lamberth’s ruling, and a federal appeals court has temporarily lifted the injunction, the likelihood of a future court and legislative battle means that, at the very least, months of uncertainty will stop progress in hESC research. Furthermore, because U.S. policy can change every four years or sooner, a huge deterrent to hESC researchers and to their progression of research exists because of the rider amendment. When monies are suddenly held back from researchers, work stops, collaborations are broken, and infrastructure (including highly skilled workers) that required years to build is often lost forever.

Now is the time to ask Congress to pass the Stem Cell Research Advancement Act of 2009 (H.R. 4808) introduced in March 2010 by Reps. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) and Mike Castle (R-Del.) that would specifically authorize federal funding of hESC research and supersede the rider. Passage of H.R. 4808 would allow stem cell work to proceed in a continuous manner and not disrupt the ability of the U.S. to stay at the forefront in this important area of science and technology.

We must remember that our economy greatly depends on a pool of smart, educated people working in an environment that allows them the freedom to explore their ideas with government support to implement them. Those who doubt such an assertion, witness the birth of the semiconductor industry and the biotech industry, both of which were born in and prospered in Northern California in an environment of intellectual rigor, freedom to explore, the best research universities, and government support and funding of basic and applied research.

Greg Maguire
CEO and cofounder, BioRegenerative Sciences
Del Mar, Calif.

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