Big Bang Theory: More Reason to Scrap Bush's Stem Cell Policy (Letters‪)‬

To the Editor: Rob Streiffer's rifle has a narrow bore but makes a big bang ("Informed Consent and Federal Funding for Stem Cell Research," May-June 2008). He shows deficiencies in the consent forms for most of the human embryonic stem cell lines that qualify under the Bush funding strictures, thus presenting a reason beyond embryo status for rejecting their use. With the Bush administration in its final days, the message here is twofold. First, institutions that have already approved research with the consent-deficient lines should halt that research. Second, future policy-makers and embryonic stem cell oversight committee members are on notice: to earn their pay, they will have to scrutinize the details of consent more than in the past. His point is less sexy than other stem cell issues, but important. In his first days in office, the new president could direct his agency heads to fund research with lines beyond those created before August 9, 2001, just as President Clinton did on January 22, 1992, with regard to the moratorium on federal funding of fetal tissue research. Although both candidates support the Castle-DeGette stem cell bill, expanding funding through legislation will only delay the research. In either case, funding guidelines will then be needed, which could take several more months. The National Institutes of Health funding guidelines drafted at the end of the Clinton years are a good model, but they will need some jiggering and NIH and Department of Health and Human Services approval before money flows.