Bills to Expand Stem Cell Research Approved by Senate - Women's Congressional Policy Institute

On April 11, the Senate approved, 63-34, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act (S. 5). The bill would allow the Department of Health and Human Services to use federal funding to conduct and support human embryonic stem cell research. Currently, federal funding for embryonic stem cell research is limited to cells derived on or before August 9, 2001. The House approved a similar measure on January 11 (see The Source, 1/12/07).

Under the bill, embryonic stem cells could be used for research if they met the following conditions:

the stem cells were derived from human embryos donated from in vitro fertilization clinics, were created for the purposes of fertility treatment, and were in excess of the clinical need of the individuals seeking such treatment;
prior to consideration of embryo donation, and through consultation with the individuals seeking fertility treatment, it had been determined that the embryos would never be implanted in a woman and would otherwise be discarded; and
the individuals seeking fertility treatment donated the embryos with written informed consent and without receiving financial or other incentives to make the donation.The measure also would require the National Institutes of Health to “conduct and support” methods of stem cell research that do not involve human embryonic stem cells.
“We must pass this bill because if we do not, the American people will continue to suffer, our brilliant researchers will be discouraged and think about leaving the field of scientific research,” said Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD). She continued, “We have to have a sense of urgency because stem cell research takes a long time. We cannot have science on demand or scientists on demand. If we do not act now, we are going to be discouraging very important research and wonderful young people from going into this field.” Sen. Mikulski urged her colleagues to “think about research in juvenile diabetes, type one diabetes, where little children, every day whether they are five or nine or 11 have to be testing their blood sugar. They cannot eat the way other kids do. They have to watch how they pace themselves when they play ball or do other things so they do not induce hypoglycemia. As they get older and their cells get even more tired, they fear they could lose a kidney or lose their eyesight.” She discussed her recent visit to university research centers and her fear that American scientists will leave “because they can do work in Sweden or Singapore that they cannot do in their own country.” Sen. Mikulski concluded by saying that she believes the bill “will provide the ethical and medical framework we need for federally funded stem cell research. It will create strong ethical guidelines. Most of all, it will ensure that we now open the opportunity for even greater and more expanded stem cell research so scientists will now have access to new, fresh stem cell lines which they now do not.”

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said, “The issue of stem cell research, when those stem cells are derived from human embryos, is one of the most profound of our time. Confronting this issue means confronting a dilemma, one I am sure every one of my colleagues has grappled with as much as I have. On the one hand, many scientists believe that research using stem cells holds the promise of one day curing diseases. But we must also remember that the embryos from which these stem cells are derived are human life. Extracting the stem cells destroys the embryo and ends that life’s possibility. The moral boundaries this research crosses is greatly troubling to me, and to many others.” He described his own childhood battle with polio. Sen. McConnell said, “I remember when the prayers of my mother and mothers across the country were answered when Dr. Jonas Salk developed his polio vaccine in 1955. To prove the new vaccine was safe, Dr. Salk administered it to himself, his wife, and their three children. As he did so, he was asked how he could dare his and his family’s lives on his new treatment. He replied: It is courage based on confidence, not daring–and it is confidence based on experience. Dr. Salk’s wisdom ought to guide us today. The daring path is the one that asks us to destroy a life for the possibility that we might save another. If we go down that route, we are daring to ruin America’s long and proud record of upholding the highest moral and ethical standards as we seek out new solutions, new cures, and new hopes.”

The Senate also passed, 70-28, the Hope Offered through Principled and Ethical (HOPE) Stem Cell Research Act (S. 30) that would allow federal funding for stem cell research using embryos with no chance of survival.