Human embryonic stem cells have the ability to become any tissue in the body and might eventually lead to treatments for intractable diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes.
But antiabortion GOP candidates equate the emerging science with abortion because human embryos must be destroyed to extract the stem cells. And like President George W. Bush, who in 2001 barred the National Institutes of Health from supporting most embryonic stem cell research, they vow to restrict future funding for it.
Scientists in Massachusetts, where private philanthropy has enabled Harvard University to craft a majority of the embryonic stem cell lines used in research around the world and where a stem cell center in Shrewsbury is a mainstay of Governor Deval Patrick’s $1 billion life-sciences initiative, are warily eyeing the Republican slate. Researchers are painfully aware that the future of their work is caught up in a political tussle that could cast the field into scientific limbo.
“While many of us in the field end up raising private philanthropy to do the work, it is very important that labs have access to NIH dollars so more research can actually be done,’’ said Dr. Leonard Zon, director of the stem cell program at Children’s Hospital and founding president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research.
Since 2009, the NIH has released more than $300 million for research on human embryonic stem cells, provided the cells are derived from donated embryos that would otherwise be discarded from fertility clinics.
The presidential order has expanded the number of stem cell lines that federally funded scientists could use to 128, compared to the 21 Bush made an exception for because they existed prior to his 2001 ban.
Bush’s compromise drew sharp criticism from some conservatives, who chastised him for allowing any federal support of the research. Now most of the Republican candidates have refused to be pinned down as to just how far they will go in their opposition.
