Sound Science: The Stem Cell Debate
Posted by on July 18, 2006 at 10:18 AM
This afternoon the Senate will likely pass H.R. 810, a bill whose passage would mean new hope for millions of Americans who suffer from debilitating diseases and who understand the possibilities that expanded stem cell research has to offer.
From The Washington Post:
The legislation in question, which the House has passed, would allow federal funding for research on stem cell lines derived from frozen embryos that are stored at fertility clinics and slated for destruction. The president's policy allows for federal funding of research only on stem cell lines that existed as of Aug. 9, 2001, the date he announced his policy. Bush said such a policy was reasonable because additional embryos would not have to be destroyed to create stem cells.
Since President Bush signed strict restrictions into law that limited the stem cells available for study the scientific community has been hindered:
Although the so-called ``presidential lines'' continue to grow and be distributed, some researchers say the number of government-approved cell lines is inadequate.
``We're still going to be needing new cell lines under new conditions all the time in order to better understand what the properties of these cells are,'' says Kevin Eggan, a Harvard researcher, who spoke at a July 1 press conference at the International Society for Stem Cell Research meeting in Toronto.
According to scientists, including 80 Nobel Laureates, embryonic stem cell research has the potential to unlock the doors to treatments and cures to numerous diseases, including diabetes, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, Lou Gehrig's disease, multiple sclerosis, cancer, and spinal cord injuries.
In 2001, before Bush signed restrictions into law, they wrote to the President:
"Some have suggested that adult stem cells may be sufficient to pursue all treatments for human disease. It is premature to conclude that adult stem cells have the same potential as embryonic stem cells -- and that potential will almost disease to disease. Current evidence suggests that adult stem cells have markedly restricted differentiation potential. Therefore, for disorders that prove not to be treatable with adult stem cells, impeding human pluripotent stem cell research risks unnecessary delay for millions of patients who may die or endure needless suffering while the effectiveness of adult stem cells is evaluated."
In addition, 591 Organizations - Scientific Societies, Research Universities, Health Organizations, Patient Advocacy Groups, and Others - wrote to Members of the Senate today saying that Only H.R. 810, which provides for funding of embryonic stem cells, will advance stem cell research.
"Of the bills being considered simultaneously, only H.R. 810 will move stem cell research forward in this country."
Finally, nearly three-quarters of Americans support embryonic stem cell research. A national poll, conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation, found that 72 percent of Americans support embryonic stem cell research, up from 68 percent in 2005, and 70 percent want the Senate to pass a bill providing federal funding.
Despite this wide-spread support, despite the possibilities and the hope this research offers, the President is expected to veto this legislation. He will veto potentially life-saving legislation to please a minority of the extremely conservative religious right-wing of the Republican party. He will veto legislation that offers hope to millions; he will put politics before science, before the welfare of the American people.
In addition to the majority of Americans who support federally funded research, some of the prominent groups in support of this bill are:
Alzheimer's Association
American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Diabetes Association
American Society for Reproductive Medicine
Association of American Medical Colleges
Biotechnology Industry Association
Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation
National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, National Organization for Women
National Women's Political Caucus
The bill is opposed by:
Christian Coalition
Concerned Women for America
National Right to Life Committee
Traditional Values Coalition
U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Family Research Council
Compare those two lists and you see a stark contrast between sound science and pure ideology. The President should not use his first veto to block the pursuit of science, but it's likely that he will. The House and the Senate will have done the right thing with the passage of this bill, which puts the health of Americans, and the health of their families, first. In contrast, the President will have failed us again, by pushing aside facts and figures in favor of an extreme ideology which leaves millions of Americans and their families behind.
Comments (4) «
This is a clear distinction between what the majority of Americans want and what partisan religious groups (based purely on the "opinion" of their mortal leaders) want.
Do we base the health and welfare of our citizens on the secular opionions of religious factions or do we save the lives of millions throught research that uses the cells of fetuses that are going to be thrown in the dumpster?
I am always amazed by the fact that we Democrats are surprised by this kind of behavior from Mr. Bush. He has been consistent about one thing during the 5 1/2 painful years of his presidency (painful for the country) and that has been his unqualified support of the Christian Right. If this wing of the Republican Party supported capital punishment as the penalty for abortion, I am confident that he would go along and seek Supreme Court nominees who would rule that way. I, for one, never had any doubts that he would veto this bill. It goes against his core beliefs,namely do whatever the fundamentalist Christian leaders want. These are the people (along with Jeb Bush) who got him elected in the first place - though I still don't know how - so why not continue to follow them. Maybe there's a sainthood for him somewhere down the road.
you know the DNC is usually wrong about several issues facing America today, but we need to pass this stem cell research and help Americans who need it most and the cures that come from this..
this is one cause all of America needs to be united on and get this passed and move forward
The Republicans' choice to oppose abortion and stem cell research and assisted suicide back in Reagan's time was a political masterstroke. They are the most divisive issues in the country, and they also divide the various religious denominations against themselves. They are forced to choose between their social justice commitments and their belief in the right to life. For most of them, the right to life takes precedence over all the other rights, because without the right to life, the other rights are meaningless. The Republicans were aware of that priority and chose to support the pro Life side. It was cynical, sadistic, cruel, unconscionable to separate the right to life from the other rights, but the Republicans saw a chance to win. Their winning agenda was that the Christian Coalition and the groups that compose it (Evangelicals, Pentecostals, Fundamentalists, and miscellaneous born again Christian groups plus a lot of Baptists) constitute 30% of the population and would not abandon their pro Life stance. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops represents 25% of the population that has traditionally voted for social justice issues, but which would listen seriously to an anti abortion, anti stem cell research agenda. A lot of those Catholics have been voting Republican since Reagan, and a lot of them don't like it. They do it because the bishops are reminding them that they cannot in good conscience vote for a candidate who supports things like abortion and stem cell research. 30% of the population plus 25% of the population that are officially pro LIfe equals 55% of the population, and that's a majority. Since some of the Catholics will still vote social justice issues, they can be replaced in the pro Life camp by the proportion of mainline Protestants who will prioritize pro Life issues (Baptists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists, Episcopals, and, I think, the United Church of Christ, the descendants of the Pilgrims.) To that group add the number of Orthodox Jews who will vote pro Life, and the number of followers of Islam who are opposed to abortion and stem cell research.
When I look at those numbers, I don't see how the Democrats can expect to put a candidate into the White House.
If Democrats want to win back the Catholics, they should read the Compendium of the Church's Social Justice Teachings that the Vatican has recently published, take abortion and stem cell research off the table, and encourage Catholics to vote their Church's social justice teachings. The Compendium the Vatican just published is a flaming cauldron of liberal teachings that would even blow the minds of a lot of liberals. The Democrats are crazy not to be taking advantage of it. A lot of the mainline Protestants are firm believers in social justice, and the Orthodox Jews have wonderful teachings on social justice. The followers of Islam also have many social justice teachings from the Koran. If abortion and stem cell research and assisted suicide etc. were off the table, all those religious groups are ripe for picking. The born again group is starting to learn the need for social justice and stewardship over the earth, too.
The Democratic party is crazy to be going after issues like stem cell research and abortion. They are playing right into the Republican hands. The majority is now anti abortion and pro Life, and the Democrats are not going to impress anyone who thinks the right to life is the most important right we have by making a fuss over stem cell research, which only gives dreams of hope, because most of the things the scientists are hoping will be helped with stem cells have not shown any good responses to it yet. They can also get good stem cells from umbilical cord blood, and they aren't making any efforts to bank it.
A lot of people think the theologians, especially the Catholic and born again Christian theologians are basing their ideas that a fertilized egg is human on opinion. They aren't. Scientists have reassured us and shown us images many, many times that a fertilized egg is filled with human dna. And that's why theoligians insist that fertilized eggs are human and entitled to have their right to life protected and nurtured.
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