The real scientists seem to be losing the argument. The National Institutes of Health canceled the first meeting of the committee set up to review applications seeking federal funds for human embryonic stem cell research. For some time, there have been ominous signs. Shortly after taking office, President George W. Bush asked Tommy Thompson, his Secretary of Health and Human Services, to review the legal basis for the NIH stem cell guidelines. (See "On the Brink") With this latest development, the future of stem cell research--and with it the prospect of finding treatments for hitherto intractable chronic disease and disability--is clearly at grave risk.
Embryonic stem cells have the potential to develop into all basic tissue types--but not into a human being. They could provide a virtually limitless source of tissue for transplantation. Adult stem cells are more problematic. While their destinies are not as limited as we had once ...
