Biomed research leader tackles tough issues

by MIKE MARTIN, UPI Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON, July 11 (UPI) -- The largest coalition of biomedical research associations in the U.S. -- the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, or FASEB -- introduced new president Dr. Robert Rich Wednesday at a gathering of journalists and scientists in Washington.

Speaking over tribal drums and Native American war cries from a meeting next door, Rich set forth a concise agenda for an organization increasingly faced with thorny and controversial issues.

"We will continue to speak out on issues of bioethics," Rich told the audience. "To that end, we remain opposed to the creation of clones and reiterate our support for embryonic and adult stem cell research."

The fight for funding against an optimistic backdrop of stellar scientific achievement that only presages more milestones framed Rich's remarks with irony. On the one hand, "sequencing the genome is an unprecedented scientific achievement," Rich said. On the other, "we, like all of you, are recognizing that the budgetary outlook is changing and we will need to be especially effective in our advocacy to do our best to see that the needs of the researchers in our community are met."

Rich praised Congress for its commitment to double funding for the National Institutes of Health in five years, but called for a corresponding commitment to double National Science Foundation funding over the same period. These funding increases are necessary, Rich said, because "a successful response to the many biomedical challenges facing us today will require a cadre of researchers that we are presently not training in sufficient numbers."

Discussing the most stubborn issues facing biology researchers, Rich said FASEB members "support protection of human research subjects and the humane treatment of research animals. We have also been very impressed by the potential of embryonic stem cell research to contribute to the health and well being of human kind."

For the research community's vocal -- and with recent laboratory bombings in Seattle and Oregon -- increasingly dangerous detractors, FASEB "recognizes the right of free speech for people who oppose us but we are strongly opposed to terrorist and criminal activities against biological researchers," Rich said. "We believe those kinds of actions are completely intolerable."

Articulating his position on stem cell research, Rich in effect summed up FASEB's global perspective. "With our research, we may not necessarily discover cures tomorrow, the next day, or even five years from now. But I can definitely assure you that if we don't begin our work now, we will never reach the end game of realizing the end of disease."