Since taking office, the Bush administration has started three wars—the war on terror, the war in Iraq and, according to some researchers, a war on science.
In the latter war, President Bush has single-handedly restricted research on embryonic stem cells—making UW-Madison a casualty in the anti-science campaign.
James Thomson, UW-Madison professor of anatomy, was the first scientist to derive stem cells from human embryos and make them reproduce—creating self-generating stem cell ""lines.""
Three years after Thomson's 1998 breakthrough, however, Bush restricted federal funding in the field because creation of new lines destroys embryos. Bush said he had ""an important obligation to foster and encourage respect for life in America and throughout the world.""
In a compromise, Bush permitted funding for research on existing stem cell lines, since ""the life and death decision has already been made."" Later, however, many of the 60 lines that Bush said existed became unusable.
UW-Madison continues stem cell research. However, current restrictions have long-term implications for the university and economy.
According to Terry Devitt, UW-Madison director of research communications, the university has five permissible cell lines. These lines are used in about 35 labs on campus. Devitt said this puts UW-Madison in a good position, but he added that ""science has passed the [Bush] compromise by.""
The problem in using existing lines is not the quantity of available stem cells but their quality.
""Once you have a line going you can make new stem cells by the truckload,"" Devitt said. However, he said stem cells—like any cells—accumulate mutations.
Devitt also said the original lines were grown with animal cells, potentially exposing them to animal pathogens. He said new cell lines will be needed if scientists hope to create applications for humans.
According to William Mellon, UW-Madison associate dean of the graduate program, current restrictions have injured the advancement of stem cell research because the federal government is the largest contributor to academic research.
""That takes the major financial player out of the business of promoting the science of embryonic stem cells,"" Mellon said.
Jeremy Foltz, UW-Madison professor of applied economics said most alternate sources of funding are add-ons to federal funds.
""Other sources of money are the pickle that goes on the side of the sandwich. If you don't have the sandwich, the pickle's not very satisfying.""
These funding restrictions mean no new lines can be studied anywhere on campus, Devitt said, because ""there's not a lab on campus that doesn't have federal dollars going through it in some way.""
Foltz thinks funding restrictions may have long-term, national effects.
""Certainly, anything that kind of constrains the scientific process—you can use this thing but not that thing—is not optimal for the scientific endeavor.""
Foltz said restrictions will cause companies and researchers to settle in other countries, limiting economic returns to the United States and the technology available in the United States.
Since Bush vetoed a bipartisan bill in September to expand stem cell funding, no change in federal policy is expected even after the mid-term elections.
