No doubt many scientists greeted last week's announcement that President Bush had exercised his veto power for the first time to stop a bill expanding federal funding for stem cell research with the sound of gritting teeth. At this stage, just about everyone with an interest in research knows his grand compromise doesn't work. Those existing lines of stem cells proved too few and too easily corrupted to give researchers something real to work with. But the lopsided votes in Congress provide hard evidence in an election year that most politicians know only too well that this position is unpopular with a majority of the citizens. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger understood that when he authorized $150 million in state loans to get its own stem cell program underway. Once George W. Bush is gone from office, his stem cell policies will disappear from view and federal obstacles will dissolve. And that is very likely to hold true no matter who wins the next election.
Also, kudos to the FDA for moving to clarify its conflict-of-interest rules (see below). Hopefully, we'll at least be given some clear standards to understand. Researchers deserve a chance to know where the ethical lines are drawn and what standards they must abide by. - John Carroll