WASHINGTON, 20 July 2006 - Scientists said yesterday that the United States could see its lead in global research suffer after President George W. Bush vetoed a bill expanding federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

The bill adopted by the U.S. Senate on Tuesday (see yesterday's Cosmos Online story) would have lifted restrictions on federal funding for stem cell research that advocates say could help cure degenerative diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's or diabetes.

Bush set rules in 2001 that banned federal support for work on stem-cell lines derived from human embryos and allowed research only for a small number of stem-cell lines that existed at the time.

The restrictions set out by Bush have "created a burden for researchers who ought to be worried about science," said B. D. Colen, spokeman for the Stem Cell Institute at Harvard University.

The Senate bill rejected by Bush had also endorsed research that would use leftover IVF embryos.

Bush and his allies in the religious right oppose public funds for the technique as it involves the destruction of human embryos, which they say is immoral.

Before the president's veto, Michael Werner of the Biotechnology Industry Organisation, said the Senate proposal would have helped ensure America remained at the forefront in an important scientific arena.

"This bill is important for the United States to be a world leader in the field," Werner said.
The federal government had provided only 65 million dollars in recent years for research on stem-cell lines some of which are now unusable, Werner said.

Scientists say government funding for research is vital as the private sector is driven by commercial interests and not ready to devote sufficient resources to the effort.

"Federal money is very important for research in the United States," said Rudolf Jaenish, a biologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). "The private sector cannot compensate for this deficit."

Disagreeing with assertions from the White House, Jaenish also said that embryonic stem cells hold a much greater potential for research than cells derived from bone marrow or umbilical chords which are free of federal restrictions.

Research has shown clearly that stem cells from human embryos show "great promise for the replacement of damaged and diseased cells and organs" and are crucial to understanding how diseases operate, the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) said in a statement.

"The vast majority of that research tells scientists around the world that human embryonic stem cells are capable of forming all of the normal tissue types in the human body," the statement said.

The U.S. government's failure to provide sufficient backing for stem-cell research could carry long-term consequences not only for public health but for the U.S. economy's competitive edge, according to Ira Black, biologist and director of the New Jersey Cell Institute.

"The lack of federal money for this research is very serious," he said.

Martin Rees, president of the Royal Society - Britain's equivalent to an academy of sciences - said the U.S. policy was "slowing down the global effort to develop therapies for a range of diseases and illnesses."

The current restrictions prevent U.S. scientists from using federal funds to collaborate with colleagues abroad carrying out stem cell research. "These restrictions are having a global knock-on effect that is ultimately slowing down research on stem cell therapies that could eventually help millions of patients in the United States and the rest of the world.

"If the present restrictions remain, it would surely mean that the United States will continue to fall behind in this important and exciting area," said Rees.

Professor Graeme Laurie, of the University of Edinburgh, also condemned the veto. "The stated reason for President Bush's objection to embryonic stem cell research is that 'murder is wrong'. Why then does he not intervene to regulate or ban stem cell research carried out with private funds and which is happening across the United States? It is a strange morality indeed that pins the moral status and life of the embryo on the question of who is paying for the research."