Is new legislation that would lift the ban on embryonic stem cell research necessary?

So, we really do need to increase the number of lines that are available for federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. The 21 lines that are approved for use under federal funds right now are technically limited. They're getting older, they're getting less useful. There are dozens of other lines that have been developed around the world, as well as in the U.S. over the past few years. So, the scientists are really limited as far as what they can do in the laboratory with the currently available lines, and the lack of support for research in the U.S. also puts us at a disadvantage with other countries that are moving ahead in this area.

Have breakthroughs using adult stem cells made embryonic stem cell research obsolete?

The work that's being done right now that may be able to make adult stem cells what's called pluripotent, basically in theory equivalent to human embryonic stem cells, is very new, and we're not going to know for a number of years if adult stem cells can do everything that we believe embryonic stem cells could do under the right conditions. Some recent research, for example, shows that the older the person from whom the skin cell is taken, the harder it is to reprogram that adult cell into a pluripotent stem cell. So we're going to need human embryonic stem cells for a number of years. Partly just because there may be these biological limitations to reprogrammed adult stem cells. And also, because even if adult stem cells do work, human embryonic stem cells are needed as comparisons to see if those adult stem cells really do approximate in a useful way the qualities of human embryonic stem cells.

Why has Congress so far been unable to pass legislation that would allow embryonic stem cell research to move forward?

The Congress has twice, in both Houses with strong majorities, passed the Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. The problem is that President Bush has vetoed it twice in spite of the fact that other conservative pro-life leaders like Senator Orrin Hatch are strongly in favor of embryonic stem cell research. So, unfortunately, what the scientific community is faced with, is a White House that refuses to listen to them about their needs in order to move the life sciences and the medical sciences forward.