Editorial
Stem-cell research: Why Bush is wrong

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President Bush's overly cautious policy on stem-cell research shackles scientists and limits hope for many Americans.

The United States has always been a leader in pushing the outer limits of scientific research. Science should trump ideology; Bush lets it be the other way around.

The death of former President Ronald Reagan, and Nancy Reagan's poignant plea to loosen rules on stem-cell research to help Alzheimer's' patients, did not change Bush's mind.

In a recent speech to the Southern Baptist Convention, he restated his commitment to an earlier policy that limits federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research to cells already isolated in the lab and grown into stem cell "lines." The policy becomes less defensible every day.

No one knows for certain all that can be helped by stem cells. Scientists believe they hold extraordinary healing powers and may aid everything from brain function impaired by Alzheimer's and Parkinson's to pancreas function limited by diabetes and heart function after a heart attack.

In contrast to Bush, Sen. John Kerry's call to restore the role of scientific advancement more clearly represents the American character. With the endorsement of 48 Nobel Prize laureates, Kerry called for the U.S. to find the cures of tomorrow.

Bush hoped his 2001 decision to allow federal funds to be used on existing stem-cell lines would end the debate. He attempted to carve an imaginary middle line in our country's politics.

For people suffering a variety of ailments, there is no middle ground. Federal funding of research on a broader supply of stem cells should proceed in earnest.

Many embryonic stem cells at the center of the debate are left over from in vitro fertilization and otherwise would be discarded and wasted.

Staunch conservative Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, supports stem-cell research. Fifty-eight senators recently sent a letter to the White House urging Bush to relax the restrictions.

Bush's stubbornness on this issue lets other countries lead the way. The president is wrong to impede progress.