President George W. Bush's National Institutes of Health chief called on Monday for lifting the restrictions Bush imposed in 2001 on federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research.
"I think it is important for us not to fight with one hand tied behind our back," NIH Director Elias Zerhouni told the Senate subcommittee that oversees spending for the agency that funds much of U.S. biomedical research.
Several leading U.S. universities decried the Bush administration's funding squeeze on the NIH since 2003.
The NIH budget has fallen 13 percent with inflation factored in during this time. Zerhouni agreed that tight budgets have forced NIH to reject far more research grant requests than usual.
There is no U.S. law against human embryonic stem cell research, but Bush's federal funding limits have restricted the amount of work in a field some researchers say could yield cures for a variety of diseases.
Last year, Bush exercised the first veto of his presidency on a bill to permit broader federal funding.
The House of Representatives on Jan. 11 passed an identical bill, but not by the margin needed to override another promised veto. The Senate is expected to consider the bill soon.
Zerhouni's comments were his strongest to date on the subject. In January, another senior NIH official told another Senate panel Bush's policy has blocked potential medical breakthroughs.
NIH, comprised of various institutes focusing on specific health missions, is the main arm of the U.S. government responsible for biomedical research.
Bush's policy restricts federal funding to research on human embryonic stem cell colonies, or lines, that existed at the time of his 2001 announcement.
Some scientists say many of those roughly 20 lines are deteriorating, contaminated or were developed through obsolete methods, making them inadequate to determine the potential therapeutic value of embryonic stem cells.
Questioned by Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat and the panel's chairman, Zerhouni agreed, saying, "These cell lines will not be sufficient to do all the research we can do."
MASTER CELLS
Advocates call embryonic stem cell research the best hope for potential cures for conditions such as diabetes, Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injuries. The research requires destruction of days-old embryos, and opponents call it immoral.
Stem cells are a kind of master cell for the body, capable of transforming into various tissue and cell types. Those taken from days-old embryos are especially malleable but "adult" stem cells found in babies and adults also have shown promise.
Many scientists hope to harness the unique qualities of those cells to repair tissue damaged by disease or injury.
Opponents of embryonic stem cell research often tout "adult" stem cells as having similar therapeutic potential without ethical baggage. But Zerhouni said such views "do not hold scientific water."
"So from my standpoint as the NIH director, it is in the best interest of our scientists, our science, our country that we find ways -- that the nation finds a way -- to allow the science to go full speed on both adult and embryonic stem cell research," he said.
The universities, beneficiaries of NIH money, said stagnant NIH funding has frozen some research, forced researchers to spend too much time scrounging for grant money and too little in the laboratory, and driven promising young scientists to consider other careers.
Their report came from Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, the University of California, the University of Texas, the University of Wisconsin, Washington University in St. Louis and Partners HealthCare, formed by two Boston hospitals.