Rethink restrictions.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Anti-abortion absolutists don't mince words in their characterization of embryonic stem cell research: They call it murder. They believe human life begins at conception, and embryonic stem cell research destroys human embryos that are three to five days past conception.

But outside that closed-minded camp, a growing group of abortion opponents is willing to acknowledge that the potential life-saving benefits of stem cell research should not be dismissed out of hand.

Despite his essential agreement with the strict anti-abortion position, President Bush deserves credit for trying to strike a compromise three years ago on federal funding of stem cell research. Bush acknowledged the promise of stem cell research to yield groundbreaking treatments for devastating ailments such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, diabetes, muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis.

He agreed to let federally funded researchers study 64 embryonic stem cell lines created before his August 2001 cutoff date. The policy drew criticism from scientists who feared its constraints would hamper U.S. efforts, but there was ample support from experts who believed the lines would be enough to get started on basic research.

Embryonic stem cells can be cultured to create any type of tissue in the human body. By studying how these master cells differentiate into muscle, brain and other tissues, researchers hope to learn how to grow cells that will treat diseases.

Unfortunately, Bush's initial projections of stem cell availability didn't materialize. Today, there are only 19 usable lines created before the 2001 cutoff date, and that number is never likely to rise above 23, according to the National Institutes of Health.

But the number of cell lines available to researchers worldwide who don't receive U.S. government funds is up to at least 51 and could rise to more than 100 over the coming year. Non-American scientists have seized the momentum in stem cell research, with laboratories in Singapore, Israel, Sweden and Finland announcing recent breakthroughs.

Reports of U.S. stem cell researchers leaving to work in more supportive environments overseas prompted Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to say it's time for Bush to review the policy. No less a GOP luminary than former first lady Nancy Reagan has publicly joined 206 members of Congress, including some longtime abortion opponents, who are pressing the president to revisit his 2001 decision.

The moral line drawn by Bush was originally meant to prevent the government from creating new embryos that would be destroyed in subsequent research. But that line is blurred by the fact that fertility clinics simply discard or freeze far more human embryos in the normal course of treating patients than researchers ever would. In-vitro fertilization creates multiple embryos in a laboratory in the hope of successfully implanting just one. Most of those surplus embryos will die.

So government restrictions are actually having no impact whatsoever on the largest source of discarded embryos. Faced with the choice of throwing unwanted embryos in the garbage or using them to advance research that could alleviate untold human suffering, even staunch anti-abortion advocates are lobbying for looser federal funding rules.

The federal government plays a vital role in this delicate scientific arena. The strings attached to federal funding include rules and monitoring that minimize the self-interested motives of private sector research. Proposals to use embryos from fertility clinics include requiring informed consent from donors and prohibiting donors from being paid.

President Bush found the courage to craft an appropriate compromise in 2001. It's time for him to summon that courage again and provide U.S. researchers with federal funds to study embryonic stem cells discarded by fertility clinics.