During the George W. Bush years, stem cell advocates fought an uphill battle to expand funding opportunities and engage the National Institutes of Health in this potentially lifesaving research. The political climate improved drastically with the election of President Barack Obama, who lifted the Bush-era restrictions by executive order and freed the NIH do its job in providing comprehensive guidelines for human embryonic stem cell research.
In the long run, these actions will add much-needed funding for this basic research. But there is still heavy lifting to be done on the advocacy front.
For years, the social-conservative movement, especially its political leadership, sought to hijack embryonic stem cell research into the intractable abortion debate in the United States. They dreamed up the Draconian "Brownback bill," which called for imprisonment and heavy fines for researchers engaged in forms of legitimate stem cell research - and even paralyzed patients availing themselves of a potential treatment abroad.
This led in turn to the rise of a "pro-cures movement," representing the great majority of citizens who see stem cell research not as a question of public policy but as a personal health matter, with life and death consequences for themselves and their loved ones.
2009 finds the social conservative agenda for embryonic stem cell research in tatters. Broad public support for this potentially lifesaving field has resulted in some big victories. California's far-reaching Proposition 71, for example, created the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. With a $3 billion commitment, California became the world leader in funding this fundamental research. Missouri and Michigan voted for ballot measures that protect embryonic stem cell research in their state constitutions.
The Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund is a model for other states in funding all aspects of stem cell research. Supporters in Congress will soon file bills seeking to make permanent and perhaps expand Mr. Obama's executive order. Stem cell advocates should expect pitched battles and be ready to support this legislation.
It is unlikely that a new version of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act (twice vetoed by President Bush) will address a piece of legislation - a perennial rider called the Dickey-Wicker Amendment - that prohibits NIH funding to directly derive new cell lines. The amendment usually passes without debate as part of the appropriations bill for Health and Human Services. To streamline the research and end all doubt on federal support, Dickey-Wicker must go.
