" What Bush did last night was disgraceful. he pandered to all sides and then waffled on a decision....."
The NY Times agrees with you......
nytimes.com
August 10, 2001
President Bush Waffles
Last night George W. Bush had one of those rare
opportunities a president gets to
take a bold step that might define
his administration. Instead, he ducked.
In a national television address, the president said he was
supporting federal funding for stem cell research. But he
added restrictions so rigid that they may constitute a
near-ban.
After a long prelude, describing his moral debate over a
decision and all the terrible diseases that stem cell
research might help cure, Mr. Bush endorsed federally
funded research only in cases where the cells were
extracted from human embryos in the past and made to
grow their own colonies, or lines. There is a very limited
number of lines of these cells, not enough to provide the
diversity scientists need. Furthermore, the existing lines
are not necessarily immortal. Scientists believe that some
may eventually stop providing stem cells and need to be
replaced.
By limiting the federal role so severely, Mr. Bush will
hamper the government's ability to spur this important new
area of medical research. Scientists hope to be able to
coax stem cells to evolve into replicas of cells needed to
repair diseased or damaged tissue. For example, someday
they may be able to create new connections in spinal
cords and regenerate brain activity in Alzheimer's
patients.
To get the stem cells, the scientists must extract them from
blastocysts -- early-stage embryos, just a few days old. In
the past, most of these blastocysts were acquired from
fertility clinics, which would otherwise destroy them.
Lately, researchers have begun to create their own
embryos, a procedure Mr. Bush also opposes.
Most people might have trouble seeing a tiny clump of
cells in a petri dish as a human being. But some abortion
opponents do, and they have argued that the thousands of
excess embryos created by fertility clinics every year
should be protected and "adopted" by childless couples.
They deserve respect for their beliefs. But they should not
be allowed to dictate public policy, especially in an area
where the health of so many people might be in the
balance. As supporters of the stem cell research keep
pointing out, there is more than one way to be pro-life.
During the presidential campaign, Mr. Bush appeared to
be opposed to federal funding for any stem cell research.
But now, with polls showing strong public support for the
research, he is trying to have it both ways, permitting the
experiments but not the extraction process that is needed
to acquire the cells.
President Clinton also tried to draw a distinction between
doing the research and obtaining the stem cells.
But Mr. Clinton was trying to get around a Congressional
ban on stem cell research. Mr. Bush is unlikely to have
that problem. Congress seems to be in a much different
mood this year, led by legislators whose relatives are
suffering from diseases that stem cells might someday help
cure. The Senate majority leader, Tom Daschle, said
yesterday that there was strong bipartisan support in the
Senate for legislation to provide federal funding if the
president failed to do so.
In his televised address, President Bush almost seemed to
be teasing the audience with a long opening disquisition
on the pros and cons of every aspect of stem cell research
without revealing which way he had decided to go.
Disappointed Americans who had hoped for a more
courageous conclusion may wind up wondering if his real
concern was a perpetual fear of offending the Republican
Party's right-wing base. |
