80 Nobel laureates back stem cell research

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80 Nobel laureates back stem cell research

WASHINGTON, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Stepping into a heated political and ethical

debate, 80 U.S. Nobel laureates have signed a letter to President W.

Bush urging him to not block the first flow of federal grants for research

on human embryo cells, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

The letter, to be faxed to the White House on Thursday morning, marks the

latest effort to influence the Bush Administration as it decides whether to

fund experiments on embryonic stem cells, the Post said.

The letter comes three weeks before a National Institutes of Health deadline

by which scientists must apply for the agency's planned first round of stem

cell research grants, the report noted.

Researchers say stem cells, taken from frozen embryos that fertility clinics

were planning to discard, can one day cure a range of diseases from diabetes

to paralysis.

Opponents call the research immoral.

But, according to the Post, the Nobel laureates say in their letter to Bush

that given the cells' great therapeutic promise, it would be immoral not to

study them.

The letter was signed by such notables as , who won a Nobel in

1962 for co-discovering, with Francis Crick, the structure of DNA; molecular

biologist Hamilton O. , who was a key player in the recent landmark

genome mapping effort by Celera Genomics of Rockville, land; and

, the California Institute of Technology biologist who conducted

seminal work on embryo development, according to the Post.

The letter was composed and circulated by West and Lanza, two

scientists at Advanced Cell Technology Inc., a biotechnology company in

Worcester, Massachusetts, the Post said.

Opponents of the research, including , legislative director

for the National Right to Life Committee, criticized the letter, the Post

said.

" Just as war is too important to be left only to generals, the killing of

human beings in medical research is an issue too important to be left only

to scientists, even Nobel laureates, " is quoted as saying.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy has said he is reviewing

the Clinton Administration's decision to fund stem cell research, the Post

said.