ffffffIn
December of 1998, Dr. Harold Varmus, the director of the National Institutes
of Health, made a statement before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee
on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and related agencies.
In doing so he brought to their attention the beginning of an area of
research that would in the next few years become a topic of hot debate
in both the public and political arenas.
ffffffAlmost
three years later, on August 9, 2001, President George W. Bush addressed
the nation on this same topic. In his televised speech he outlined the
issue as one affecting all facets of society—government, religion,
ethics, economics, science, and medicine, to name a few. The subject of
his address was embryonic stem cell research, an issue with great potential
and a fragile equilibrium.
