On August 9, 2001, President George W. Bush finally made a decision on the most recent.
controversial issue of federal funding for stem-cell research. In a brief televised address, he told .
the nation that he would support very limited research on embryonic stem cells. Scientists would .
be able to use an estimated $250 million of federal funds to continue their research, but only .
through the use of existing lines of stem cells (estimated between a quantity of twelve and sixty) .
obtained from embryos that had already been destroyed. The President cited the "prospect of .
saving and improving life at all its stages" and encouraged scientists to consider using adults, .
animals and placentas for stem cell sources. His decision was predictable. Through the support .
of limited research, he managed not to take sides, positioning himself in the middle of this heated .
debate. However, it did not put an end to the research altogether; private research on embryonic .
stem cells may continue in the U.S. and abroad, as it has for years, through private, instead of .
federal funding.
What makes stem cell research so unique is that it is a relatively new technology in .
today's modern world of science. The possibility for stem cell research was realized in .
November of 1998, when scientists James Thomson and John Gearhart reported that they had .
successfully isolated and cultured human embryonic stem cells, cells from which the hundreds of .
tissues in the human body originate. The process from embryo to stem cell starts when an egg is .
fertilized or cloned to form an embryo, which then divides. In the time from day 1 to day 5, the .
embryo divides repeatedly and becomes a spherical-shaped blastocyst. By day 5 to day 7, the .
embryonic stem cells are visible and capable of developing into any tissue in the human body. .
Afterward, a stem cell line is formed, as the cells are removed and put into a Petri dish to grow .
