AAAS Supports Policy Push for Broader Access
to New Human Embryonic Stem Cell Lines
Derived from human embryonic stem cells, precursor neural cells grow in a lab dish and generate mature neurons (red) and glial cells (green), in the lab of UW-Madison stem cell researcher and neurodevelopmental biologist Su-Chun Zhang.
Photo courtesy Su-Chun Zhang
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AAAS, the world's largest general science
society, today expressed support for U.S.
policymakers who are calling upon U.S.
President George Bush to reevaluate policies
that limit access to new human embryonic stem
cell lines.
"It is only through federal support of
research on all types of stem cells that we
may be able to realize promising new
treatments or cures," AAAS CEO Alan I.
Leshner, executive publisher of the journal,
Science, wrote in a letter to U.S.
Representatives Michael Castle and Diana
DeGette.
Castle (R-DE), DeGette (D-CO) and some 200
other lawmakers are expected to call for a
reassessment and expansion of U.S. stem cell
policy at a press conference set for 10:00
a.m. ET Wednesday, 28 April, in 2362A Rayburn
Office Building, Washington, DC.
"Federal funding for all types of stem cell
research is essential so that the scientific
community can better understand the potential
value and limitations of each type and so
that all avenues of research can be pursued
in search of cures for serious diseases,"
Leshner wrote.
Leshner's 28 April letter re-affirms an
earlier statement issued by AAAS in response
to the Administration's policy on federal
funding of embryonic stem cell research. That
statement, dated 17 August 2001, urged the
President to periodically reassess stem cell
policy "so that changes may be made in order
to realize to the fullest extent possible the
benefits of this promising field of
research." (See www.aaas.org/spp/cstc/docs/01-
08-17_stemstmt.htm.)
Noting that embryonic stem cell research may
have the potential to offer advanced medical
solutions for serious diseases that cause
terrible suffering, the 2001 AAAS statement
further recommended that the Bush
Administration publicly disclose the sources
of the existing embryonic stem cell lines.
As outlined in another AAAS statement issued
14 February 2002: "AAAS supports stem cell
research, including the use of nuclear
transplantation techniques (also known as
research or therapeutic cloning)," but
"endorses a legally enforceable ban on
efforts to implant a human cloned embryo for
the purpose of reproduction."
28 April 2004
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