Editorial: Support for stem cell study

Saturday, Nov. 18, 2006 | 7:18 a.m.

Recent studies using stem cells show promise for growing human heart valves and also for finding a treatment for muscular dystrophy.

According to the Associated Press, Swiss researchers have grown human heart valves using stem cells extracted from the amniotic fluid that surrounds babies in the womb. These new heart valves, scientists say, could one day be created in the laboratory as a pregnancy progresses and be ready for implantation in infants who are born with heart defects.

And Bloomberg News recently reported that U.S. researchers have found that dogs suffering a disease resembling humans' Duchenne muscular dystrophy were able to walk after being injected with a type of muscle-forming stem cell found in dogs' blood vessels. The discovery could one day lead to an effective treatment of muscular dystrophy in humans. About 250,000 Americans have some form of muscular dystrophy, according to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. There is no known cure.

While such research has a long way to go, the studies show just how versatile and promising the use of human stem cells could be in the treatment of debilitating diseases. Adult stem cells were used in these studies, but researchers have said that those drawn from human embryos offer the most promise in developing treatments for paralysis, Alzheimer's disease and other conditions.

President Bush used his veto power for the first time in his presidency this year to reject legislation that would have allowed federal funding of research using new stem cells. The government can fund only research using cells that were in existence in August 2001 - cells that researchers have said are, in many cases, inadequate for studies.

The fact that Congress already has approved such research, and it was vetoed by Bush, does not bode well for similar measures that likely will be introduced by members of a new Democratic-controlled Congress. Bush likely would veto such measures again. Still, as human stem cell research continues in other nations such as Switzerland, there is hope that some of these currently incurable afflictions will one day be treatable.