Stem cells have the ability to grow into any type of cell in the human body, leading scientists to see whether they can be used in treatments for a range of illnesses, including Alzheimer's, diabetes, and heart disease.

The stem-cell-funding debate has divided conservatives and rightists who oppose a woman's right to choose abortion. This is because it is necessary to destroy a microscopic human embryo in order to obtain the stem cells, undercutting the unscientific notion that human life begins at conception--an argument used by abortion rights foes as a key part of their campaign against a woman's right to control her own body.

In his televised address Bush said that by approving funding for research that does not destroy human embryos, he would not cross "a fundamental moral line by providing taxpayer funding that would sanction or encourage further destruction of human embryos that have at least the potential for life." The federal government will allot $250 million for the research this year, he said, and will also cover experiments on umbilical cord placenta and adult and animal stem cells.

In his speech Bush said there are currently 60 lines of stem cells in existence, something that surprised scientists in the field. "Our leading stem cell researcher was under the impression that there were less than 10," Lawrence Soler of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research told the press.

A Harvard pioneer in stem-cell research said that if there "are 60 cell lines that are robust, growing well, and have the properties of human embryonic stem cells, that's news to me and that's good news."

Jonah Goldberg, editor of the rightist National Review Online, said Bush's decision "may seem like a great moral indignity to some. But it doesn't to me." He said he thinks "Bush did OK." Goldberg had earlier written that the "stem-cell debate is lost" because "the logic that denies experimentation on embryonic stem cells forces the acceptance of these embryos as human lives. And I just don't believe that the majority of the American people can be persuaded that embryos are human beings."

Kenneth Connor, president of the Family Research Council (FRC), called the president's action "troubling." The FRC says its mission is to "reaffirm and promote... the traditional family and Judeo-Christian principles upon which it is built." Connor said that in his statement Bush tries to distance himself from "immoral acts that resulted in the killing of embryonic human beings. But by casting such research in a positive light, he will encourage members of Congress to advocate additional research."

Bishop Joseph Fiorenza, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the "trade-off he has announced is morally unacceptable."

Many scientists said Bush's decision didn't go far enough. "The president's decision to limit federal funds to only those stem cell lines already in existence will severely inhibit our ability to unlock the huge potential of embryonic stem cells," said Michael Soules, president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.

A spokesperson for researchers at Johns Hopkins University urged the question be revisited in several years. "This issue really isn't whether you can get everything now but whether this is a step in the right direction. And it certainly is."  
 
 
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