President Bush is considering whether government funds should be used to support medical research using human stem cells harvested from unborn fetal tissue. Scientists believe that stem cell research will lead to a medical revolution with the potential to treat numerous serious illnesses, but the use of human embryos presents a grave moral dilemma for many Americans.

A 1996 federal law banned the use of tax dollars for research that destroys or harms embryos. Under the Clinton administration, federal funds could be used for embryonic cell research provided the cells were extracted by private scientists from embryos that otherwise would be discarded by fertility clinics. President Bush is now considering whether to pull back the Clinton exception and more strictly interpret the law as a ban on all embryonic research.

Bush is under pressure from different factions of the Republican Party over this divisive issue. Former Reagan supporters favor stem cell research, citing the potential medical breakthroughs that could benefit Alzheimer's patients like President Reagan. Nancy Reagan personally appealed to President Bush to consider the life-saving potential of stem cell research.

Leading House Republicans, however, consider it immoral to destroy embryos. In a joint statement, House Majority Leader Dick Armey (TX), House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (TX), and House Republican Conference Chairman J.C. Watts (OK) expressed their fear that allowing such research would contribute to "an industry of death."

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) and other leading Democrats are urging Bush to authorize funding for stem cell research.

A recent poll by Roy Morgan International found that a majority of American people favors using human embryos for medical research. Sixty-three percent of Americans surveyed approve of using stem cells from surplus human embryos to treat disease, while 25% disapproved and 12% had no opinion.

Scientists and experts in the field of stem cell research fear that lives that could be saved will ultimately be lost if embryonic research is delayed by political debate. They warn that a ban on federal funding would not eliminate such research in the United States, but would force much of the work into the private sector and would likely spur some scientists to work abroad.

Roger Pedersen, a prominent American scientist in the field of stem cell research, recently announced his plan to move to England, where embryonic research is legal, publicly funded, and less controversial than in the United States. He will move his research from the University of California at San Francisco to Cambridge University, citing a hostile work environment in the United States as his primary reason for relocating.

The British government funds research projects that use both adult stem cells and human embryos. If Bush decides to ban all embryonic research in the United States, the United Kingdom could easily become the leader in stem cell research.

President Bush seems to be experiencing a period of indecision as lawmakers and lobbyists on both sides of the issue attempt to influence his thinking. He has spent a great deal of time meeting with scientists, medical professionals, ethicists, and political advisers on this issue and his aides say he is "agonizing" over the decision.

Sources: Reuters, Associated Press, Washington Post, New York Times