Senators, members of Congress and former first lady decry stem cell policy.

FIFTY-EIGHT US SENATORS, 206 members of Congress and former first lady Nancy Reagan have called on President Bush to loosen his restrictions on research using stem cells derived from human embryos. The calls followed the long-awaited release of a report from the US President's Council on Bioethics, "Reproduction and Responsibility: The Regulation of New Biotechnologies."

Currently, federal funds are limited to scientists working on stem cells in existence on August 9, 2001, when Bush announced the new policy. The National Institutes of Health estimates that as few as 23 of the 78 lines originally identified can be used, and many of those are contaminated by mouse cells and therefore cannot be used on humans. New Jersey and California have provided state funds for research into stem cells.

Just before the death of former president Ronald Reagan on June 5, 2004, his wife Nancy made a passionate call for President Bush to change his policy at a dinner for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. President Reagan suffered from Alzheimer's disease, one of many degenerative conditions that might be treated using new therapies developed through research on embryonic stem cells.

The Council on Bioethics' report was wide-ranging and proposes, inter alia, that "attempts to conceive a child by any means other than the union of egg and sperm" should be prohibited. An addendum from five Council members makes the point that "we believe that this language provides a way for Congress to ban reproductive cloning while agreeing to disagree on the question of cloning for biomedical research."

Cardinal William Keeler, chair of the bishops' Committee for Pro-Life Activities, generally supported the report, but expressed reservations on two counts: the Council's support for the use of embryos in research (up to either ten or 14 days after creation, with Congress to decide the limit) and the Council's apparent support for some cloning, when the embryo is then used to initiate a pregnancy.

Juliet Tizzard, of the Progress Educational Trust, noted that the absence of a call to ban embryo research, something that was in the draft issued late in 2003, "has come as a great relief to the pro-research community in the United States."

A survey of 4,005 people by the Genetics and Public Policy Center, based in Washington, DC, revealed that 61 percent approve of using preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to help a sick sibling, while 33 percent disapprove. However, 57 percent disapprove of sex selection and 80 percent expressed concern that unregulated genetic technologies such as PGD could "get out of control." "There is strong support for using these technologies when there is a health benefit, even when that benefit is for another person, but this support coexists with deep-seated worries about where all these new technologies may be taking us," said Center director Kathy Hudson.