President Bush is seeking to obscure his growing political isolation in Congress by backing an “ethical alternative” on stem-cell research — an issue that splits Republicans and contributed to their defeat in November’s midterm elections.
The Senate will begin to debate a Bill today that would expand and encourage federal funding for researching human embryonic stem cells, similar to that which Mr Bush blocked last year — the only time that he has used his veto power.
The President is backing an alternative Bill that would pay for public research only on embryonic stem cells that have already died or are deemed incapable of survival in the womb. Critics said that it would bring little scientific advance.
Scientists believe that research on stem cells — from which the rest of our bodies grow — could help to cure diseases such as diabetes and Parkinson’s, as well as regenerate human organs and tissue. Stem cells taken from days-old human embryos appear to be particularly powerful.
Opponents, especially from the Religious Right in America, say that it is morally wrong to experiment on or destroy human embryos.
“Without an understanding that life begins at conception and that an embryo is a nascent human being, there will always be arguments that other uses, takeovers and make-overs of embryos are justified by potential scientific and medical benefits,” the White House wrote in a report issued in January.
Both Bills are expected to be passed by the Senate this week. But there remains doubt whether the farther-reaching Bill, sponsored by Harry Reid, the Democratic Majority Leader, would win the 67 votes it needs to override another presidential veto, even though it has overwhelming support from Democrats and a sizeable number of Republicans.
John Hlinko, the founder of Stempac, a pro-research pressure group, said: “It’s going to be extremely difficult to beat the veto. But those who vote against the Bill need to know that we will help them into retirement at the next election.” Opinion polls suggest that 70 per cent of Americans support the research.
White House aides signalled last week that the President was supporting the alternative Bill because he hoped that it would divert some Republican senators away from voting for the more substantive Bill.
Don Stewart, a spokesman for Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, said: “You have two options: one Bill that will get vetoed and one that has a chance to pass into law.”
Sean Tipton, at the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, said that the alternative measure, backed by Mr Bush, was “merely the latest attempt by opponents to appear as if they are in favour of stem cell research when they are not”.
He added: “They are running scared because so many of their colleagues lost in November’s elections. Their Bill is not a compromise — it’s pointless. There are no lines of stem cells currently in existence that would become available for research as a result of it.
“This is based on scientific nonsense about what constitutes a ‘naturally dead’ stem cell. It’s another example of people trying to shape the science to fit their policy goals. I think Americans are tired of decisions based on fantasy. They want decisions based on fact.”
Asked why the stem cell debate had raised such strong passions, Mr Tipton said: “The difference between us and the UK is that we have this very powerful political lobby opposed to abortion. They take as their starting point that the fertilised human egg is the legal and moral equivalent of a human being.”
Funding fight
–– President Bush allocated $250 million to embryonic stem cell research in 2001
–– This funding applied only to the 61 stem cell lines frozen and already in existence
–– Scientists said that only 21 were viable. They now say that all are redundant
–– 142 new embryonic stem cell lines have been developed between 2001 and 2006 and so are ineligible for federal funding
–– A poll by the Civil Society Institute in 2005 showed that a majority of Americans favoured stem cell research
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