THE
PRESIDENT: Good evening. I appreciate you giving me a few minutes of
your time tonight so I can discuss with you a complex and difficult
issue, an issue that is one of the most profound of our time.
The issue of research involving stem cells derived from human
embryos is increasingly the subject of a national debate and dinner
table discussions. The issue is confronted every day in laboratories as
scientists ponder the ethical ramifications of their work. It is
agonized over by parents and many couples as they try to have children,
or to save children already born.
The issue is debated within the church, with people of different
faiths, even many of the same faith coming to different
conclusions. Many people are finding that the more they know about stem
cell research, the less certain they are about the right ethical and
moral conclusions.
My administration must decide whether to allow federal funds,
your tax dollars, to be used for scientific research on stem cells
derived from human embryos. A large number of these embryos already
exist. They are the product of a process called in vitro fertilization,
which helps so many couples conceive children. When doctors match sperm
and egg to create life outside the womb, they usually produce more
embryos than are planted in the mother. Once a couple successfully has
children, or if they are unsuccessful, the additional embryos remain
frozen in laboratories.
Some will not survive during long storage; others are
destroyed. A number have been donated to science and used to create
privately funded stem cell lines. And a few have been implanted in an
adoptive mother and born, and are today healthy children.
Based on preliminary work that has been privately funded,
scientists believe further research using stem cells offers great
promise that could help improve the lives of those who suffer from many
terrible diseases -- from juvenile diabetes to Alzheimer's, from
Parkinson's to spinal cord injuries. And while scientists admit they
are not yet certain, they believe stem cells derived from embryos have
unique potential.
You should also know that stem cells can be derived from sources
other than embryos -- from adult cells, from umbilical cords that are
discarded after babies are born, from human placenta. And many
scientists feel research on these type of stem cells is also
promising. Many patients suffering from a range of diseases are already
being helped with treatments developed from adult stem cells.
However, most scientists, at least today, believe that research
on embryonic stem cells offer the most promise because these cells have
the potential to develop in all of the tissues in the body.
Scientists further believe that rapid progress in this research
will come only with federal funds. Federal dollars help attract the
best and brightest scientists. They ensure new discoveries are widely
shared at the largest number of research facilities and that the
research is directed toward the greatest public good.
The United States has a long and proud record of leading the
world toward advances in science and medicine that improve human
life. And the United States has a long and proud record of upholding
the highest standards of ethics as we expand the limits of science and
knowledge. Research on embryonic stem cells raises profound ethical
questions, because extracting the stem cell destroys the embryo, and
thus destroys its potential for life. Like a snowflake, each of these
embryos is unique, with the unique genetic potential of an individual
human being.
As I thought through this issue, I kept returning to two
fundamental questions: First, are these frozen embryos human life, and
therefore, something precious to be protected? And second, if they're
going to be destroyed anyway, shouldn't they be used for a greater good,
for research that has the potential to save and improve other lives?
I've asked those questions and others of scientists, scholars,
bioethicists, religious leaders, doctors, researchers, members of
Congress, my Cabinet, and my friends. I have read heartfelt letters
from many Americans. I have given this issue a great deal of thought,
prayer and considerable reflection. And I have found widespread
disagreement.
On the first issue, are these embryos human life -- well, one
researcher told me he believes this five-day-old cluster of cells is not
an embryo, not yet an individual, but a pre-embryo. He argued that it
has the potential for life, but it is not a life because it cannot
develop on its own.
An ethicist dismissed that as a callous attempt at
rationalization. Make no mistake, he told me, that cluster of cells is
the same way you and I, and all the rest of us, started our lives. One
goes with a heavy heart if we use these, he said, because we are dealing
with the seeds of the next generation.
And to the other crucial question, if these are going to be
destroyed anyway, why not use them for good purpose -- I also found
different answers. Many argue these embryos are byproducts of a process
that helps create life, and we should allow couples to donate them to
science so they can be used for good purpose instead of wasting their
potential. Others will argue there's no such thing as excess life, and
the fact that a living being is going to die does not justify
experimenting on it or exploiting it as a natural resource.
At its core, this issue forces us to confront fundamental
questions about the beginnings of life and the ends of science. It lies
at a difficult moral intersection, juxtaposing the need to protect life
in all its phases with the prospect of saving and improving life in all
its stages.
As the discoveries of modern science create tremendous hope,
they also lay vast ethical mine fields. As the genius of science
extends the horizons of what we can do, we increasingly confront complex
questions about what we should do. We have arrived at that brave new
world that seemed so distant in 1932, when Aldous Huxley wrote about
human beings created in test tubes in what he called a "hatchery."
In recent weeks, we learned that scientists have created human
embryos in test tubes solely to experiment on them. This is deeply
troubling, and a warning sign that should prompt all of us to think
through these issues very carefully.
Embryonic stem cell research is at the leading edge of a series
of moral hazards. The initial stem cell researcher was at first
reluctant to begin his research, fearing it might be used for human
cloning. Scientists have already cloned a sheep. Researchers are
telling us the next step could be to clone human beings to create
individual designer stem cells, essentially to grow another you, to be
available in case you need another heart or lung or liver.
I strongly oppose human cloning, as do most Americans. We
recoil at the idea of growing human beings for spare body parts, or
creating life for our convenience. And while we must devote enormous
energy to conquering disease, it is equally important that we pay
attention to the moral concerns raised by the new frontier of human
embryo stem cell research. Even the most noble ends do not justify any
means.
My position on these issues is shaped by deeply held
beliefs. I'm a strong supporter of science and technology, and believe
they have the potential for incredible good -- to improve lives, to save
life, to conquer disease. Research offers hope that millions of our
loved ones may be cured of a disease and rid of their suffering. I have
friends whose children suffer from juvenile diabetes. Nancy Reagan has
written me about President Reagan's struggle with Alzheimer's. My own
family has confronted the tragedy of childhood leukemia. And, like all
Americans, I have great hope for cures.
I also believe human life is a sacred gift from our Creator. I
worry about a culture that devalues life, and believe as your President
I have an important obligation to foster and encourage respect for life
in America and throughout the world. And while we're all hopeful about
the potential of this research, no one can be certain that the science
will live up to the hope it has generated.
Eight years ago, scientists believed fetal tissue research
offered great hope for cures and treatments -- yet, the progress to date
has not lived up to its initial expectations. Embryonic stem cell
research offers both great promise and great peril. So I have decided
we must proceed with great care.
As a result of private research, more than 60 genetically
diverse stem cell lines already exist. They were created from embryos
that have already been destroyed, and they have the ability to
regenerate themselves indefinitely, creating ongoing opportunities for
research. I have concluded that we should allow federal funds to be
used for research on these existing stem cell lines, where the life and
death decision has already been made.
Leading scientists tell me research on these 60 lines has great
promise that could lead to breakthrough therapies and cures. This
allows us to explore the promise and potential of stem cell research
without crossing a fundamental moral line, by providing taxpayer funding
that would sanction or encourage further destruction of human embryos
that have at least the potential for life.
I also believe that great scientific progress can be made
through aggressive federal funding of research on umbilical cord
placenta, adult and animal stem cells which do not involve the same
moral dilemma. This year, your government will spend $250 million on
this important research.
I will also name a President's council to monitor stem cell
research, to recommend appropriate guidelines and regulations, and to
consider all of the medical and ethical ramifications of biomedical
innovation. This council will consist of leading scientists, doctors,
ethicists, lawyers, theologians and others, and will be chaired by Dr.
Leon Kass, a leading biomedical ethicist from the University of Chicago.
This council will keep us apprised of new developments and give
our nation a forum to continue to discuss and evaluate these important
issues. As we go forward, I hope we will always be guided by both
intellect and heart, by both our capabilities and our conscience.
I have made this decision with great care, and I pray it is the
right one.
Thank you for listening. Good night, and God bless America.