Stem-Cell Politics (New Eng Journal of Medicine)

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New England Journal of Medicine
Volume 355:1633-1637 October 19, 2006 Number 16

Stem-Cell Politics

Susan Okie, M.D.

In Missouri this election season, former Republican Senator John Danforth, an Episcopal priest and abortion opponent, is citing the New Testament in support of a state constitutional amendment protecting the legality of human embryonic stem-cell research. "I find nothing in the Bible that tells me that cells in a lab dish are people," said Danforth, who lost a brother to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and believes that the research will lead to new treatments for diseases. "What I do find in the Gospels is an emphasis on healing — relieving people of their suffering."

In Wisconsin, where human embryonic stem cells were first isolated, the reelection campaign of Democratic Governor Jim Doyle has run television advertisements attacking Doyle's opponent, Republican Congressman Mark Green, for voting against a bill that would have increased the number of stem-cell lines eligible for federal funding. In one ad, the mother of a child with type 1 diabetes says, "When a Washington politician like Mark Green says he's going to outlaw stem-cell research, I say, `Tell it to my daughter.'"

And in California, Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger responded to President George W. Bush's July veto of that bill by issuing a loan of $150 million from the state budget to his state's cash-strapped stem-cell research initiative. With its long-term funding tied up by litigation, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) had been unable to award research grants; now, it is expected to announce the first ones in about 6 months. Ironically, Bush's veto "brought us to life," CIRM's president, Zach Hall, said.

The President's veto has also brought human embryonic stem-cell research to life as a political issue for many candidates for federal and state offices around the country. Politicians from both major parties are trying to use such research as a "wedge issue" to woo voters. Most Democrats and some moderate Republicans support the research, whereas many socially conservative Republicans oppose it. "I quite literally had a phone call from a candidate for sheriff" seeking information about the issue, said Sean Tipton, president of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research, an alliance of medical groups that support the research. "I think one of the dynamics . . . is that anti-choice voters have shown that they will vote on this issue and this issue only. And the pro-science, pro-patient community has not shown that to be true."

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http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/355/16/1633?query=TOC


Source Information

Dr. Okie is a contributing editor of the Journal.

An interview with former Senator John Danforth can be heard at www.nejm.org.

References

Owen-Smith J, McCormick J. An international gap in human ES cell research. Nat Biotechnol 2006;24:391-392.

Mannies J. Varied groups are joining fight against Amendment 2. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. September 7, 2006:3.