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American Morning

President Bush Approves Funding for Stem Cell Studies

Aired August 10, 2001 - 10:00   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to begin this hour with what many consider to be one of the most important decisions of the Bush presidency thus far. After weeks of weighing the debate over embryonic stem cell research, Mr. Bush has approved federal funding for such studies, but with some limits.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have concluded that we should allow federal funds to be used for research on these existing stem cell lines, where the life-and-death decision has already been made. Leading scientists tell me research on these 60 lines has great promise that could lead to breakthrough therapies and cures.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: We'll talk some more about the scientific implications of that decision later on this hour, but first let's talk about the politics.

And for that, let's go now to our White House correspondent Major Garrett -- good morning, Major.

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon.

You know, there were really two news flashes in the president's 11 minute nationally televised tutorial on the entire stem cell debate, one, that he would endorse federal funding, and two, that there were 60 to 69 existing stem cell lines. That surprised many in the scientific community.

I had a chance to talk to the Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson a little bit about that this morning. I said does the federal government now own these existing stem cell lines?

He says no, but the NIH, the National Institutes of Health, has had conversations with private companies and publicly funded research organizations that own these stem cell lines and the federal government believes that they will be cooperative, provide them, put them on a federal registry and make them available for scientific research.

But as yet, the government does not own them, believes they will at some point in the future. The underlying question here is where are they and how can they be found? The National Institutes of Health, before the president made his nationally televised address, conducted what aides at the Health and Human Services described as a very aggressive worldwide search to find all these existing stem cell lines and are very confident that they are not only pure, but will be made available for research -- Leon.

HARRIS: Well, Major, what are you hearing there about the response that we're hearing throughout the media, both on television and in the printed press this morning to President Bush's statement last night? Is there any concern at the White House there about how this message is being received?

GARRETT: Well, the White House is paying, of course, very, very close attention to all the reaction and I can tell you, many White House officials were watching our very own network right after the president's address and saw on "LARRY KING LIVE" the spectrum of opinions, one voiced by Mary Tyler Moore, a well known actress all over the United States, with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, giving it a thumbs up. Also, James Dobson, a very critical and well known voice among religious right and social conservatives in this country also giving a qualified thumbs up.

Administration officials tell me when you have that kind of agreement or at least acceptance across that wide a political spectrum in the United States, they feel the president came out pretty well -- Leon.

HARRIS: All right, thank you very much, Major Garrett at the White House. We'll talk with you later on -- Daryn, over to you.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, now we're going to hear from one group, though, that is not happy with the president's decision, those who are against any kind of federal funding for stem cell research. We're going to listen in now at the National Press Club, where some of these people are talking. Let's listen in to Ken Connor. He is president of the Family Research Council.

KEN CONNOR, PRESIDENT, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: We maintain very simply that killing human embryos for research is wrong in every instance. The Family Research Council believes, sadly, that the president is only leaving our country deeper into the moral morass.

Now it's my privilege to introduce to you Bay Buchanan, president of American Cause, who will give you her remarks.

BAY BUCHANAN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN CAUSE: Thank you very much, Ken. It's a great honor to be here amongst these pro-life leaders.

I would like just to add a few points to Ken's remarks. First, let me just say that last night watching the president of the United State speak with making a strong pro-life statement, one that was clearly from his heart and was quite convincing was extraordinarily heartwarming to this pro-lifer and I think to millions of other pro- lifers who have long awaited to hear those words from a president of the United States again. However, his decision to allow, albeit limited research on embryonic stem cells, was the wrong one.

He said he was faced with two very tough questions. He obviously had done his homework and really does have a clear understanding of the issue. But instead of answering those two questions and putting them to rest once and for all, he has raised many other questions. Let me just point to a couple of them.

Why, if, indeed, what he said, and he truly believes it, and I do believe he does, that it is wrong, immoral and unethical to take the life of an embryo, to take any life, whether it be in its embryonic stages or not, to take that life and to do research on it is wrong, why would you use federal funds to encourage scientists to do just that?

By financing the second half of that research will only encourage them to be more and more involved in this kind of research. And what happens a few years from now when those 60 stem lines are used up and then the scientists come to him and say my gosh, it's enormously promising. We've got enormous potential here, Mr. President. We need more.

What does he do then? It only makes this decision of his that much tougher to get this kind of a movement towards more and more research of the embryo.

Likewise, if it is wrong...

KAGAN: We've been listening to Bay Buchanan, also to Ken Connor, two people who are against, they think that President Bush went too far in allowing any federal funding of stem cell research. Of course, there are those on the other side like Dr. John Gearhart, who was a pioneer in stem cell research. We're going to hear from him in the next hour, those that believe that the president didn't go far enough in allowing enough funding and putting too many restrictions on where that money can go.

You will hear both sides represented in Congress and that's where we find our Jonathan Karl, on Capitol Hill this morning. With more on that -- Jonathan, good morning.

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

Reaction already from all sides on this. Most recently on CNN a short while ago we heard from Connie Morella, a moderate Republican who had wanted a more expanded funding of embryonic stem cell research. Here's what Connie Morella had to say about the president's decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CONNIE MORELLA (R), MARYLAND: My feeling is that his statement last night does not go far enough. It is limited. It does not expand the use of the embryos, the early embryos that are very potent from research which will continue to provide tremendous breakthroughs. The private sector is doing that. Other countries are doing that. We need to have strict guidelines and we need to have the federal accountability that would come from the federal funding.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KARL: Republicans have been deeply divided on this. You had Connie Morella and other moderates on one side and you also had some anti-abortion Republicans who had urged the president in the strongest possible language to allow no federal funding of this kind of research. The three prominent, most prominent figures in that were three members of the House leadership who, if you remember, put out a statement earlier last month that said that this was like relying on an industry of death to find cures. And they called on the president not to allow any funding.

Now, two of those three House leaders have put out statements responding to the president, but they are statements that are not overwhelmingly critical. J.C. Watts, the leader of the Republican Conference in the House, said, "While I wouldn't reach the same conclusion, President Bush's position maintains the principle that taxpayer dollars should not be used for the destruction of human embryos for any purpose."

And then from Tom DeLay, another one of those who put out that statement, Tom DeLay saying, "The initial research may ultimately serve as a pretext for vastly expanded research that does require the destruction of new living embryos."

But Tom DeLay's statement, although critical there, also had words of praise for the president, saying that this was clearly a heartfelt decision, one that the president had thought over, and Tom DeLay in his written statement that he put out said that the president had looked him in the eye and promised to make a decision based on politics, not principle, DeLay saying that he believes the president did just that.

Now, on the Democratic side, you had written statements coming out from the two Democratic leaders on the Hill. First, on the House side, Representative Dick Gephardt saying, "Once again, the president has done the bare minimum order to try and publicly posture himself with a majority of Americans. But Americans know that this is not the decision that the science community needs to go forward in full force."

A more positive statement, less critical, coming from the Senate Democratic leader, Tom Daschle, who said, "I am heartened by President Bush's announcement that he intends to support federal funding for limited stem cell research. I respect the president's decision and the deliberative approach through which he reached it."

Tom Daschle, however, did go on to say that there will be those that are concerned that limiting the research to those existing stem cell lines is simply too limiting and will limit the scientific progress that can be made. He said the Senate will work its will, will take up that action when the Congress returns in the fall. And, indeed, there are already bills that have been proposed by senators on both sides of the aisle to expand research beyond those stem cell lines, to allow research into actual embryos, the embryos that are out there in those in vitro fertilization clinics.

So that, we are expected to see a possible battle here in the Senate on that question when Congress returns in the fall -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Jonathan Karl on Capitol Hill, thank you very much.

We told you just a little bit ago that coming up later in this hour we'll be talking with the pioneer, a pioneer of embryonic stem cell research, Dr. John Gearhart. We're going to get his take on this debate. And then our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen will be along to talk about what research could mean in practical terms for your health and in medicine for you.

Now, if you're interested in finding out more about stem cell research, you can log onto our Web site at cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN. A lot of things on that site, including you can get an interactive explanation of how stem cells are harvested. There's also a fact sheet on the debate and you can post your own opinion on our message board.

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