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HUMAN STEM CELL RESEARCH
Media reports, 2005 & 2006
Sponsored link.
 | 2005-MAR-01: USA: Bill to widen stem-cell
research: Congressperson Charles Bass (R-NH) has introduced a bill to
Congress that would repeal President Bush's restriction on human embryonic
stem cell research. The President's restriction limited research to certain
stem cell lines established before 2001-AUG-09. These are now almost all
defunct and unusable. 1 |
| 2005-MAY-08: World: UN approves declaration
against therapeutic and reproductive cloning: By a vote of 84 to 34, the
UN General Assembly adopted a non-binding declaration calling on nations to
enact legislation to prohibit both therapeutic and reproductive cloning.
Belgium, Singapore, the United Kingdom and some other countries in which
therapeutic cloning projects are active said that they would no comply with
the declaration. |
| 2005-MAY-19 to 24: USA: Federal bill to permit government
funded stem cell research debated in congress: Moderate Republicans in the House are joining with most Democrats to support bill HR 810 -- the
"Stem Cell Reserch Enhancement Act of 2005" It
would allow frozen embryos at
fertility clinics which are scheduled to be destroyed to be used in stem cell research either in government labs
or in other locations funded by government grants. Republican leaders have
told representatives that the bill is considered "a vote of conscience;"
they are free to vote either way.
 | Rep. Michael Castle, (R-DE) said: "At
some point the decision is made to dispose of the embryos. They're not
going to be used in the process anymore, and in that case it either
becomes hospital waste or it's going to be used for research if our bill
passes." |
| Rep. Michael Pence, R-IN said: "I think it's morally wrong
to take the tax dollars of millions of pro-life Americans and use it to
fund research that they find morally objectionable." |
| Orrin Hatch, R-UT) said: "It would be a lot
better to utilize them for the benefit of mankind — to alleviate pain,
suffering and disease. And I think anybody who really looks at it has
got to say, 'you know, that's pro-life too'." |
| President Bush said: "I made [it] very clear
to the Congress that the use of federal money, taxpayers' money, to
promote science which destroys life in order to save life, I'm against
that. Therefore if the bill does that, I will veto it." |
| Rep. Jim Ramstad, (R-MN) said: "To reduce this issue to an abortion issue is
a horrible injustice to 100 million Americans suffering the ravages of diabetes,
spinal cord paralysis, heart disease, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease,
cancer, MS [multiple sclerosis], Lou Gehrig's disease and other fatal,
debilitating diseases." |
Occasionally, a couple will return to their
fertility clinic and arrange to have some of their embryos thawed and
implanted in the woman's uterus. In very rare cases -- on the order of a
dozen per year in the U.S. -- couples release their frozen embryos for
other couples to "adopt." However, the vast
majority of frozen embryos are eventually discarded. Under present legislation,
they can be incinerated or flushed down the drain. But they cannot be used
to provide stem cells for research.
2,3,4 |
| 2005-MAY-24: Bill passes House: House bill HR810 passed with a vote
of 238 to 194. A similar bill S 471 has been introduced in the Senate. The house
vote is insufficient to override the expected Presidential veto. 4 |
| 2005-AUG-01: Arlen Specter and Bill Frist
promote use of stem cells: Senators Arlen Specter and Bill Frist, both
Republicans, support the research use of stem cells from surplus embryos in
fertility clinics. Specter indicates that at least 62 senators support his
bill which would lift federal funding of research that President Bush put in
place in 2001-AUG. Bill Frist, the Senate Majority Leader surprised
religious and social conservatives when he announced his support for
modifying the president's policy. He noted that only 22 lines out of the 78
originally foreseen by the administration are still eligible for federal
funding. Some of these are deteriorating and/or contaminated. He said: |
"the
limitation put into place in 2001 will, over time, slow our ability to bring
potential new treatments for certain diseases....embryonic stem cells
uniquely hold specific promise for some therapies and potential cures that
adult stem cells just cannot provide.....It's not just a matter of faith,
it's a matter of science."
The bill was expected to be voted upon by the senate in 2005-fall.
However, it was still stalled in the Senate by 2006-MAY-24, one year after
it was passed by the House. President
Bush has promised to veto the bill. There does not appear to be a 2/3
majority in either the House or Senate to override that veto. The fate of
hundreds of millions of Americans who suffer or will suffer from
debilitating diseases hangs in the balance. 5,6
| 2005-AUG-02: Bill Frist attacked by religious conservatives:
Frisk portrays himself as a pro-life Republican. However, he appears to
differentiate between human life -- in the form of a pre-embryo -- and a
human person whose life should be protected. Unlike most pro-lifers, he
seems to believe that human personhood is achieved after, not at,
conception. He was severely attacked by many religious and social
conservative groups: LifeSiteNews, a pro-life group stated that Frisk: |
"...broke
radically both with President Bush and his own past statements by
supporting a bill to expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell
research." They quoted Frist as saying: "I am pro-life. I believe
human life begins at conception. It is at this moment that the organism
is complete -- yes, immature -- but complete. An embryo is nascent human
life. It's genetically distinct. And it's biologically human…. And
accordingly, the human embryo has moral significance and moral worth. It
deserves to be treated with the utmost dignity and respect. I also
believe that embryonic stem cell research should be encouraged and
supported."
James Dobson, founder and chairperson of Focus on the Family
said:
"Most distressing is that, in making his announcement, Senator
Frist calls himself a defender of the sanctity of human life — even
though the research he now advocates results, without exception, in the
destruction of human life.....there will never be a sufficient number of
new stem-cell lines to satisfy the sometimes unquenchable thirst for
federal money to fund pet projects of researchers. A morally sound line
must be drawn at the beginning of this journey into stem-cell research:
that no human life is sacrificed for possible or proven scientific gain
– period."
Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council commented:
"It is unfortunate that Senator Frist would capitulate to the biotech
industry." 7
| 2006-MAR-25: Germany: Scientists obtain stem cells from mice testicles:
Scientists have been able to collect spermatologonial stem cells from the
testicles of male mice. These are the cells that generate spermatozoa. The cells
are then transformed into what appear to be embryonic stem cells. Scientists
have used to them to grow liver cells, muscle cells, pancreas cells,
dopamine-secreting nerve cells and various kinds of heart cells. If the
technique will also work on humans, then all males may be able to generate
unlimited amounts of stem cells to regenerate tissues to repair defective
organs. Study leader Gerd Hasenfuss, a cardiologist at Georg-August-University
of Goettingen, said: "We may not be as successful in getting the same result
in humans as in mice. But I am very much convinced that this is the basis for a
therapeutic strategy. I am optimistic." Women, however, may be cut out of
the process unless some similar technique is useable on ova. 8 |
| 2006-MAY-24: US: Bill is still stalled in
Senate: On the one-year anniversary of the passage of House Bill
HR810, the bill is still stalled in the Senate. A recent poll indicates that
72% of American adults support stem cell research. In the meantime, private
labs that function outside of government restrictions are flourishing in the
U.S. 9 |
| 2006-JUN-29: US: Senate to consider stem cell
bills: Senate leaders from both parties agreed to schedule a vote on a
package of bills. One bill would allow federal funding of research on
embryos that have been slated for destruction at fertility clinics. In
response, White House spokesman Ken Lisaius said: |
"The president does not believe we are forced to choose between
science and ethics....[the legislation] crosses an important moral line.
[The president] would veto legislation that crosses this moral line."
Sean Tipton, president of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical
Research said:
"We applaud the majority leader on his exemplary leadership for
bringing this up. We are confident that the votes are there."
However, both houses appear to be unable to garner sufficient votes to
overrule a presidential veto.
Included with bill HR 810 which has been passed by the House are two
additional bills which conservatives are anxious to pass:
| One encourages the National Institutes of Health to fund research
that might permit cells to be created that resemble
embryonic stem cells without destroying embryos. |
| The other, the "Fetus Farming Prohibition Act," would make it a crime for anyone to trade
in tissues from fetuses that were conceived and aborted expressly for
research purposes. 10 |
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Sponsored link:
| 2006-JUN-30: World: Catholic stem cell
researchers should be excommunicated: Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo
heads the Pontifical Council for the Family. The council proposes
family-related policy for the church. He said in an interview that "Destroying
an embryo is equivalent to abortion. Excommunication is valid for the women,
the doctors and researchers who destroy embryos." The New York Times
states that: |
"The Rev. Brian Johnstone, a moral theologian at the Alphonsian
Academy in Rome, cautioned that it was unlikely that the church would
formally adopt a final position next week. 'Clarification of such a
delicate point of this importance is unlikely to be made at such a large
gathering'." 11
Related essays on this web site:
Cloning and stem cell research are unrelated lines of research. However, they
both start with an ovum and initially use some of the same techniques.
References used in the above essay:
- "Congressman introduces legislation to kill more embryos," Washington
Update, Family Research Council, 2005-FEB-28.
- "Proposed stem cell bill divides Republicans: Some lawmakers support
federal funding of research on embryos," MSNBC, 2005-MAY-19, at:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/
- "Bush threatens veto on stem cell research bill," CNN.com, Inside
Politics, 2005-MAY-20, at:
http://www.cnn.com/
- "House passes stem cell research bills. Under threat of Bush veto,
legislation spurs emotional debate," CNN.com, Inside Politics, 2005-MAY-24,
at:
http://edition.cnn.com/
- "Senators at Odds Over Chance of Stem-Cell Bill Getting Past Bush,"
Citizen Link, Focus on the Family, 2005-AUG091.
- "A Matter of Science," The Washington Post, 2005-JUL-30, at:
http://www.camradvocacy.org/
- "Life and Family Groups React with Avalanche of Outrage to Frist
Betrayal. Warn would-be presidential candidate of political consequences,"
LifeSiteNews, 2005-AUG-02. Their home page is at:
http://www.lifesitenews.com
- Rick Weiss, "Embryonic Stem Cell Success: In Mouse Experiment, Cells From
Testes Are Transformed," Washington Post, 2006-MAR-25, Page A11, at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
- Rick Weiss, "Proponents Press Senate on Stem Cell Research Measure,"
2006-MAY-24, Washington Post, at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
- Rick Weiss, "Senate to Consider Stem Cell Proposals: Fertility Patients
Could Donate Embryos," Washington Post, 2006-JUN-30, Page A05, at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
- Elisabeth Rosenthal, "Researchers may face church's ire," New York
Times, 2006-JUN-30, at:
http://www.startribune.com/
- "Breakthrough raises hope for blindness cure," Good News Blog, 2006-NOV-10,
at:
http://www.goodnewsblog.com/
- "Stem cell cure for heart attacks," Good News Blog, 2006-NOV-10, at:
http://www.goodnewsblog.com/
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Copyright © 2005 & 2006 by Ontario Consultants
on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2006-NOV-11
Author: B.A. Robinson
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