Stemming research

US President George W. Bush decries attempts of scientists to play God by conducting human embryonic stem cell research. Yet, ironically, it is he who ends up playing God. By choosing to exercise his presidential right of veto for the first time in his presidency to reject the bill passed by the Senate lifting restrictions on the federal funding of such research, he imposes his value system on a nation and its scientific establishment.
The veto has profound implications for American dominance in a crucial frontier of medical science which could hold the key to a permanent cure for such ubiquitous health conditions, as diabetes, Parkinson8217;s and Alzheimer8217;s. Of course, many US-based institutes will go ahead with their embryonic stem cell research programmes with private funding, but the outlawing of federal funding for such research will come as a very significant dampener. So significant that fellow Republican, Arnold Schwarzenegger, had even written to Bush urging him not to make the first veto of his presidency one that 8220;turns America backwards on the path of scientific progress8221;. Election compulsions may have forced his hand on this one, but the very fact that the Senate had voted 63-37 for the bill that the US president subsequently vetoed indicated that he was most assuredly not on the side of history.
Many scientific establishments around the world will seize the opportunity this move affords them. Already, UK, South Korea and China have made formidable gains in stem cell research. India, too, must be alert to the possibilities. Not only has this country evolved a legislative framework in which to situate such research, its expertise in deriving stem cell lines has been internationally acknowledged. A national stem cell initiative to increase the clinical application of such research is well under way and national figures, like President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, have already flagged the need for such an intervention. Given funding constraints, it makes sense for India to now work towards forging partnerships with international institutions working in the field.