STEM CELL STRATEGY

The recent ruling that halts the expansion of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research points to the need for an independent Stem Cell Ethics Research Consortium.

What stem cell science needs, and what Americans should demand, is better guidance for regulatory agencies, legal and policy-making bodies. The discussion of emerging technologies for stem cell-based therapies often is driven by conflict rather than facts.

Although the lack of effective communication between scientists and the public has taken place largely in the media, an "honest broker" may be useful because the most strident opinions often are the only ones heard.

Cell-based therapies have been around for a century, but controversy heightened in the late 20th century when human fetal tissue from elective or spontaneous abortions was used as donor cells for transplantation to treat Parkinson's disease.

The failure of the scientific community to address the controversy has helped create today's heated yet poorly informed debate. This inadequacy regarding clarification of stem cell science ethics helped foster public misperceptions that have hindered the progress of innovation.

As a result, potentially life-saving treatments have been delayed and, in some cases, impeded.

A Stem Cell Ethics Research Consortium should be independent of governmental, political, religious and scientific organizations, and made up of diverse interests to wade through the ethical, legal and social issues and then determine an appropriate policy. The consortium could be responsible for determining the best uses of public money in investigations of not only stem cells, but emerging technologies as well.

The panel also must take the lead in shifting public opinion toward support for stem cell research, which could result in revising or creating meaningful oversight.

The consortium's first task would be to establish the public views on stem cell science.

That research then could be forwarded to the National Institutes of Health in developing guidelines for all stem cell research, not simply embryonic cells.

The judicial reversal of the Obama administration's attempt to overturn the moratorium on federal funding for such research underscores the necessity for the consortium.

Bringing together all stakeholders - the legal, scientific and religious sectors and the public - should allow a more educated and logical approach in handling funding for stem cell research.