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Derived from human embryonic stem cells, precursor neural cells grow in a lab dish and generate mature neurons (red) and glial cells (green), in the lab of UW-Madison stem cell researcher and neurodevelopmental biologist Su-Chun Zhang.

Say the words “embryonic stem cell research” and expect responses that are all over the map — from hope and strong support to strident opposition based on religious beliefs to polarizing political debate.

With the presidential election just weeks away, nurses may find themselves on the front lines educating patients and families about stem cell research, a contentious issue between the two major candidates.

“It used to be that the only place you heard about stem cells was in the cancer arena with someone getting a bone marrow transplant. ... Now, stem cells are making news in all these other disease areas, and people are reading [and hearing about it],” says Laurie Badzek, RN, MS, JD, LLM, director of the American Nurses Association Center for Ethics and Human Rights. “Imagine someone who is at the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s who still can comprehend things. That patient will want to know: ‘Is this going to be ready in time for me?’”

Hot campaign topic

In 2001, President Bush, concerned about the destruction of human embryos in the stem cell harvesting process, limited governmental research funding in this area to only those lines of embryonic stem cells created before Aug. 9, 2001. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) reports that some 19 viable embryonic stem cell lines are available for that purpose.

What this all boils down to is that the president and his supporters maintain that no embryo should be destroyed no matter what the potential benefits might be, says Mark Frankel, PhD, director of the Scientific Freedom, Responsibility and Law program at the AAAS.

The Democrats have taken a different stand, and many moderate Republicans concur. Former President Ronald Reagan’s son, Ron, made a strong plea in favor of stem cell research at the Democratic National Convention in July. Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential hopeful, says he’ll restore funding for embryonic stem cells if he is elected.

Bush’s limitations on federal funding do not restrict private funding for research on embryonic stem cells. And no restrictions are imposed on adult stem cell research. However, federal funding represents a large portion of research monies. Moreover, many believe embryonic stem cell studies offer more promise. Maria Amador, BSN, CRRN, director of education for the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis at the University of Miami School of Medicine, explains that embryonic stem cells are attractive because they have not yet been assigned their families [specific cell types].

“So, if you take the cells at that stage and put them in their culture dish, perhaps we can find a way to push them toward the lineage that we wish to have,” she says.

According to an Aug. 16 Associated Press report, Nobel laureate H. Robert Horvitz, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology biologist, said that “the Bush administration’s limits on funding for embryonic stem cell research effectively have stopped the clock on American scientists’ efforts to develop treatments for a host of chronic, debilitating diseases.”

Frankel says that a few clinical trials are just beginning or are in the planning stages for the use of adult stem cells, but that scientists are nowhere near human clinical trials with embryonic stem cells.

“We don’t have a lot of access to stem cells because of the administration’s policy on stem cell research,” Frankel says. “Stem cells from embryos are the ones that are the most controversial, least available, and even more nascent with regard to our knowledge and research capabilities as compared to adult stem cells.”

The result is that America is falling behind, according to George Daley, MD, PhD. In an editorial in the Aug. 12 New England Journal of Medicine, Daley notes that the president’s policy has severely curtailed opportunities for U.S. scientists to study the cell lines that have since been established. Some 128 new human embryonic stem cell lines have been produced worldwide since the president’s announcement about three years ago.

On the other side of the debate, many groups are strongly opposed to embryonic stem cell research. The National Right to Life Committee says that the blastocyst [early embryo] is a human life to be respected like any other. And some researchers question the motives of those seeking increased funding.