CQ Today: Castle Urges Obama to 'Act Now' on Stem Cell Ban

Theletter from Castle and five other House Republicans on the whip teamthat rallied support for legislation in the 110th Congress lifting thefunding curb said that "while we have been encouraged by recent newsreports that you plan to issue an Executive Order soon, we cannotstress enough the importance of swift action."

Theletter noted that embryonic stem cell research "holds great promise foralleviating the suffering of the more than 100 million Americanpatients who are living with devastating diseases," includingParkinson's disease, spinal cord injuries and diabetes.

Castlepreviously joined Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., and nine otherDemocratic and Republican House members in a Dec. 19 letter to Obamaurging that he act quickly after taking office and that the NationalInstitutes of Health (NIH) be charged with creating guidelines forcarrying out research using embryonic stem cells, which involve thedestruction of human embryos. A Castle aide said of the new letter, "Wejust wanted the president to know that he had Republican support."

Obama'sinaction so far on the Bush executive order, which limited federalfunding to research on cell lines derived from embryos destroyed beforeAug. 9, 2001, has raised some eyebrows in the medical researchcommunity. But the Castle aide said, "I assume that he's busy. We doubtthat he's holding it up for political reasons. We just want him to knowthat he has Republican support, be it small."

KristoferEisenla, a spokesman for DeGette, said the Colorado lawmaker spoke toObama Tuesday about the matter when he visited Denver. "Obama said,‘we're working on it,' " Eisenla recounted. "We're waiting, but weunderstand that the president is in the midst of an economic crisis,"Eisenla added.

TheDeGette spokesman added that "the congresswoman is grateful that theRepublicans are echoing her personal request to the president" to liftthe order.

Legislationchampioned by DeGette and Castle in the 110th Congress to lift theexecutive order made it twice to President Bush for his signature, butBush wielded his veto pen instead. The legislation would have allowedfederally-funded studies on cell lines developed from human embryosdiscarded by in vitro fertilization clinics, not just on the pre-Aug.9, 2001 cell lines.

On Feb. 4, DeGette along with Castle again introduced a bill (HR 873) lifting Bush's restrictions and codifying the new policy and a second bill (HR 872) not only lifting the restrictions but also crafting an ethical framework for all stem cell research, among other provisions.

Obamacould issue an executive order lifting the restriction and authorizeresearch on all embryonic stem cell lines, as long as the cells are"ethically derived." Outlined in a recent policy paper from the Centerfor American Progress, a left-leaning think tank, that approach woulddramatically expand the research eligible for federal grants.

But some patient advocates and research institutions prefer more separation between politics and science.

TheCoalition for the Advancement of Medical Research has been urging Obamato simply rescind the Bush policy, a move that by implication wouldleave it to the NIH to issue guidelines for the field. CoalitionPresident Amy Comstock Rick said that policy making should be put inthe hands of scientists and bioethicists. If Obama is too prescriptivein the way he revises Bush's policy, a future president might be morelikely to revise Obama's policy.

A White House spokesman couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Obamatold congressional Democrats at a retreat in Williamsburg, Va., twoweeks ago that he was delaying a stem cell announcement to make it insync with stem cell bills in the House or Senate or both. His executiveorder would nullify Bush's policy, and the legislation wouldimmediately codify a new policy.