ripotent cells. The acquisition of embryonic stem
cells by U.S. researchers was, however, drastically
inhibited by legislation forbidding the public fund-
ing of research using human embryos. Most funda-
mental research into the properties of stem cells
and most practical experiments in their acquisition
and maintenance carried out in the 1990’s em-
ployed mouse cells, but embryonic stem cells were
first extracted from primates—rhesus monkeys—in
1995.
The first human embryonic stem cell line was es-
tablished by a team led by James A. Thomson at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison, as reported in the
journal Science in November, 1998. That break-
through generated considerable controversy, partly
by virtue of coming so soon after the crucial break-
through in cloning techniques advertised by Dolly
the sheep in 1996. In March, 1999, the Wisconsin
Alumni Research Foundation began exporting
batches of stem cells from Thomson’s lines for use by
other researchers and set up a specialist WiCell Re-
search Institute in October to continue that distribu-
tion process. Although the 1990’s ended before any
human embryos were cloned for the specific pur-
pose of generating stem cells, the debate surround-
ing that possibility had already become fervent.
In 1999, the U.S. National Bioethics Advisory
Commission (NBAC) recommended that federal
law be changed to allow public funding for research
using human embryos, specifically to explore the
possibility of using human stem cells in the treat-
ment of disease; the National Institutes of Health
(NIH) drafted a set of guidelines for the regulation
of such research. President Bill Clinton—who had
accepted an amendment to legislation banning such
public funding in 1995—backed the move, and ce-
lebrity paralysis victim Christopher Reeve quickly
became one of the most outspoken advocates of
stem cell research, but the controversy continued
long beyond the end of the decade.
Apart from embryos, the principal potential
source of human stem cells was the umbilical cords
of newborn babies; the potential future utility of
such stem cells encouraged some parents to freeze
and preserve their children’s cords, while others do-
nated cords for research. In 1999, Jack and Lisa
Nash, who had a daughter afflicted with a gene-
related disorder, used in vitro fertilization and ge-
netic screening techniques to conceive a second
child—a son—free from the disease, with a view to
harvesting stem cells from his cord that might be
used to treat his sister.
The fervor of the controversy that raged in the
United States was not reproduced elsewhere in the
world, where Thomson’s breakthrough was fol-
lowed up with great alacrity. Similar cell lines were
rapidly developed in Australia, India, Sweden, and
Israel, although many proved unsustainable in the
long term.
Impact The controversy surrounding the use of
human embryos in stem cell research became a ma-
jor factor in the political disputes of the final years of
the Clinton presidency; the backlash of protest
against the NBAC recommendation and the NIH’s
draft guidelines was exploited by Republican candi-
date George W. Bush, who was subsequently to use a
prime-time address to the nation to reveal his deci-
sion on the matter, thus keeping it firmly in the pub-
lic arena.
Further Reading
Bellomo, Michael.The Stem Cell Divide: The Facts, the
Fiction, and the Fear Driving the Greatest Scientific, Po-
litical, and Religious Debate of Our Time. New York:
American Management Association, 2006. A sum-
mary of the science and various aspects of the
controversy, with an eye to the potential exploita-
tion of related technologies.
Fox, Cynthia.Cell of Cells: The Global Race to Capture
and Control the Stem Cell. New York: W. W. Norton,- A comprehensive, though somewhat jour-
nalistic, history of scientific and technological de-
velopments in the field.
Holland, Suzanne, with Karen Lebacqz and Laurie
Zoloth, eds.The Human Embr yonic Stem Cell Debate:
Science, Ethics, and Public Policy. Cambridge, Mass.:
MIT Press, 2001. An early overview of the contro-
versy, with a heavy emphasis on its moral and po-
litical aspects.
Scott, Christopher Thomas.Stem Cell Now: From the
Experiment That Shook the World to the New Politics of
Life. New York: Pi Press, 2006. A careful popular-
ization of the science and its implications, less
sensational than its subtitle (toned down in the
subsequent paperback edition) implies.
Snow, Nancy, ed.Stem Cell Research: New Frontiers in
Science and Ethics. Notre, Dame, Ind.: University of
Notre Dame Press, 2004. An anthology providing
a general overview of the topic and the debates
surrounding it.
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