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American Morning

The Science Behind Stem Cells

Aired August 10, 2001 - 10:21   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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN CONNOR, PRESIDENT, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: We deeply regret the president's decision. We believe that it flies in the face of his promise not to engage in stem cell research that involves the destruction of live embryonic human beings. Many...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: More now on our top story, President Bush's decision to provide federal funding for limited embryonic stem cell research.

We take a look now at the science behind the research. Scientists believe that embryonic stem cells are master blank cells, if you will, meaning that they can be transformed to become any type of cell in the human body. These cells might be used to create replacements for damaged tissue or organs and thus save lives.

To further help us understand this science, we're joined by Dr. John Gearhart. He is a professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and he also led the team of scientists that isolated the embryonic stem cell only two short years ago. Dr. Gearhart joins us from Baltimore this morning. Good morning, sir. Thank you very much for taking time to talk with us today.

JOHN GEARHART, JOHNS HOPKINS MEDICAL SCHOOL: Good morning, Leon.

HARRIS: Now, first of all, I'd like to ask you to, if you have any response to the comments we just heard moments ago coming into this segment here from Ken Connor.

GEARHART: Well, I don't. It seems that the president has made his decision and I think now we have to look where we're going to implement it, to be honest with you. I think it's now time to turn our attention to the science.

HARRIS: Well, you know, it seems like everyone we've talked to has found something about this announcement, the stance that President Bush has taken, that they like and a part of it that they disagree with. How about you? Are you totally on board with this?

GEARHART: No, me, too. I have things I like and things I don't like. I certainly am pleased that he has made the, that he's endorsed this work and that he's willing to approve of federal funding into this area. And am I am discouraged, of course, by the limitations that he's placed on it. And I think we need some clarifications before we can speak, you know, more appropriately to the point. But we have many questions about these 60 cell lines that he says exist that for many of the scientists we are just unaware of.

HARRIS: Well, a lot of that -- exactly. I've heard that a couple of times this morning.

GEARHART: Right.

HARRIS: Scientists and doctors like yourself saying they didn't even know that 60 stem cell lines existed. Do you know where that number came from and where they are?

GEARHART: Well, yes. I know where the number has come from. They have indicated that in addition to the 12 lines that we know about just in this country that there are additional lines in foreign countries. We were not aware of this. 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. I think I'm one of the scientists that Karen Hughes referred to as having to be reacquainted with science. So we wait to see what these lines represent.

HARRIS: Well, you mentioned Karen Hughes, President Bush's communications director.

GEARHART: Yes.

HARRIS: And she also said this morning in those comments that I think that you're referring to that this 60 stem cell lines provides enough variety so that you don't need to create any more.

GEARHART: Right.

HARRIS: Would you agree with that, considering that we're talking about this country having well over, you know, 300 million people? Is 60 stem cells alone well enough, good enough for this country alone?

GEARHART: Well, part of the issue at the moment, I think, is we have to establish in the laboratory proof of concept kinds of things before we would attempt in any way to use these in therapeutic transplantation. So we, I think most of us would agree that somewhere we may need a hundred lines to go forward with the research. But I'm just worried about these other 40 some lines, what they represent. We just don't know that.

So I think we need to generate a number of more lines before we can feel comfortable in this research effort.

HARRIS: What do you make of the idea of putting together this bioethics council? I'm assuming that you would not disagree with that idea, but do you think this should have been done before an announcement was made about what stance the White House was going to take on this or what?

GEARHART: Right. It, well, that's a difficult issue. You know, in place at the National Institutes of Health under the current guidelines there are committees that review what we are doing. The president is now suggesting that we have another council under the executive branch to deal with these matters, as well. This could be fine, but I'm a little concerned that he has named to head this council a person who has gone on the record over and over again of being opposed to this research.

I don't think this would bring a fair-minded balance, if you know what I mean, to establish this council.

HARRIS: Yes. Well, what is the next step here, Dr. Gearhart? Do you and others of your like mind, like-mindedness, if you will, do you go on and lobby Congress now to go even further than what President Bush did?

GEARHART: Oh, I think, yes. I think we've all, look, we've always understood that what has gone on since mainly January with the Bush administration is just the beginning. We, I have pushed and I believe what will happen is that we really need in this country a legislative base, a legislative platform in which we have open and informed debate that will lead us really to establish what we can do and can't do in this really highly controversial area of science.

And as Senator Daschle and others have stated, Congress will be taking this up and I think through this mechanism we'll probably come up with some pretty good laws that will permit us to go forward in this area in a very responsible fashion.

HARRIS: Dr. John Gearhart, we thank you very much for taking time to talk with us this morning. We figured if anyone would know about this, it would be you.

GEARHART: Thank you very much.

HARRIS: All right, take care.

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