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CNN Live Saturday
Bush's Decision on Stem Cells Generates Diverse Responses
Aired August 11, 2001 - 13:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush's decision Thursday on federal funding for stem cell research is under the microscope this weekend. In advocating limited funding, Mr. Bush us now being criticized by both supporters and opponents of such research. He defended his decision yesterday on ABC's "20/20."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "20/20")
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I made the decision I thought was the right decision. I am very comfortable with the decision. In terms of the moral line you just described, the life-and-death decision had already been made. Stem cell line exists after a stem cell has been removed from the embryo and therefore destroying the embryo.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But don't you think that even though those embryos have already been destroyed, that using those lines for research effectively condones the destruction of the embryos?
BUSH: Not at all. Not at all. I don't think that, otherwise I wouldn't have gone forward with the decision. I know the life-and- death decision has been made. The fundamental question is, are we going to destroy more embryos as we go out in the future, and my answer to that is, we shouldn't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLEY: Stem cell research can be a little complicated for a lay person to understand. We get both an explanation and the reasons for some disappointment on both sides from CNN's medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the sentence that launched 1,000 questions.
BUSH: As a result of private research, more than 60 genetically diverse stem cell lines already exist.
COHEN: The very first question on the mind of anyone who doesn't have a Ph.D in biology was: what is a stem cell line? To make a stem cell line, scientists take an embryo, pull out the stem cells that lie inside, and then make the stem cells replicate, so each line is based on one destroyed embryo.
The administration says the National Institutes of Health survey shows 60 lines exist.
TOMMY THOMPSON, HHS SECRETARY: No one had ever done a formal aggressive count until I asked NIH to do so a few weeks ago.
COHEN: But some people aren't so sure that number is right, since the cell lines are all in private companies, about half outside the United States. And Dr. John Gearhart, a pioneer in stem cell research, worries about the quality of those lines.
JOHN GEARHART, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: We hope that these lines were collected under the appropriate conditions, that they were cultured and maintained with the standards that were required for those in this country. But we know nothing about them, so at this point, we can't comment.
COHEN (on camera): Assuming the stem cells are in good condition, what's the next step? Will private companies make them available? And how much will they charge for them?
DR. JOHN MENDELSOHN, MD ANDERSON CANCER CENTER: There may be even more than 60 stem cell lines available. What I don't know is how many of them are accessible to scientists in the public domain.
COHEN: Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson says not to worry.
THOMPSON: We still have some very strong proprietary and patent issues to work through, but we have great confidence that they can be addressed.
COHEN: Another question Bush launched Thursday night: If each of us is, as he said, a snowflake, are 60 stem cell lines enough to make treatments for diseases for a variety of people of different genetic backgrounds? The administration says yes, but again, not everyone's so sure.
DR. JOHN DIPERSIO, WASH. UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS: I think it's going to be very, very limiting in our ability to really extend this into human clinical diseases and clinical trials.
COHEN: To get more genetic variety, scientists say they need at least some of those 100,000 leftover embryos sitting in fertility clinics. They could still be made into stem cells with private money. But one thing Bush made clear, no federal funds could be used to do research on those stem cells. He says he doesn't want taxpayer money to pay scientists to destroy anymore embryos that they already have.
Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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