Advocates both for and against embryonic-stem-cell experimentation say they expect a bill repealing President Bush’s limits on the research to pass when the Senate soon takes up debate on the controversial legislation.
Bush has vowed to veto the popular measure, which passed the House by a wide margin last year. If he does, it would be his first veto of legislation from the Republican-led Congress in his five and a half years in office.
Many lawmakers opposed to the research were hoping to avoid that scenario, in part by presenting alternatives that could allow stem-cell research to proceed without destroying human embryos to collect them. Along with the House bill, the Senate will vote on a measure sponsored by Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., that seeks to fund embryo-sparing embryonic-stem-cell research.
But groups both for and against expanding research using existing technology — the kind requiring destruction of embryos — say that the alternative is unlikely to attract enough lawmakers to defeat the House bill, known as H.R. 810.
“We are confident that we have the votes to pass 810, and that is the important thing,” said Sean Tipton, president of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research, an umbrella group of dozens of organizations backing the repeal.
Conservative opponents of the research say they’re counting on Bush to follow through on his threat to veto the measure, even though it remains popular with voters who will soon be casting ballots in mid-term elections.
Santorum’s bills are there for neo-cons to vote for — so they can go to their constituents and say that they, “voted for stem cell research”. Hoping in the meantime, voters won’t notice they didn’t support the real deal.
It is embarrassing that in the 21st Century we still have a debate on stem-cell research.
Is it the miracle science that will cure all known illnesses? No.
Is it solid science that can help lead to effective treatments for things like cancer and diabetes, and help prevent birth defects? Yes.
There is no moral question here.
The problem is in the way it’s portrayed. That and peoples ignorance of science.
Many people, myself included, believe that life begins before birth. At which point is debatable……however a 6 month fetus has it’s own brainwaves, it’s own dreams, it’s own heartbeat etc.etc.
The big problem here is…….these are not fetal stem cells. Stem cells are better garnered from an early zygote or blostocyte….not from a fetus. By the time the infant develops into a fetus the stem cells are already designated. They would be no different than farming stem cells from bone marrow.
When he heard ‘stem cell’, he probably thought it was related to the crack pipes he liked in college (stems), and terrorist ‘cells’.
Carlin said it best:
“If crime fighters fight crime, and fire fighters fight fires, what do freedom fighters fight?”
As bad as most people think of Congress, Santorum is truly an embarrassment. Claiming that stem cell research kills babies is also an embarrassment.
It’ll be interesting to see if Bush follows through with his promised veto on HR 810. I think he actually will, not only to keep his word, but because it would be a huge embarrassment (another among many) to get through his entire presidency without vetoing a single bill. If only stem cell research could promise a cure for the disease of spending so far beyond your means……. but maybe science can even get there someday.
I’m sure Eideard’s “fence-sitters” will be able to spin their positions as pro-science, pro-life, pro-apple pie, and very supportive of mothers, Christmas, and the troops. And just in the nick of time for mid-term elections!
The problem with selling the anti stem cell research is that everyone knows someone who might benefit from an advancement in medical science. A great example is Ronald Reagan’s family. Nominally on the conservative right, they have loudly appealed for stem cell research. My own in-laws, very religious, are afraid of the Alzheimer’s that killed my wife’s grandmother or the cancer that killed her father and uncle. The moral high road has a lot of pot holes when your constituency is affected.
Yeah, Mr. Fusion, this is the sort of thing that might end up affecting a lot of people, depending on how well the research goes. So it’s a little tricky for politicians to navigate these waters, and a good spin strategy is imperative. It’s so much safer to come out against flag burning.
During the height of the “border security” debate, I wrote several of Americans most prominent border security congressmen and asked them how much it will cost to secure the borders.
Not just to build a fence but patrol the borders, patrol the coast, arrest, detain, trials, deportation, etc. (The whole enchilada, so to speak.)
Not a SINGLE ONE wrote me back! Not one!
They are LOUDLY demanding “secure the borders” but my conclusion is that these leaders have absolutely no clue — or care — about what it will cost us taxpayers.
I asked the same question before the Iraq war and nobody would answer for the longest time. Finally a few people came up with between “It will pay for itself” to the highest estimate of “no more than 50 billion.”
So, if these congressmen ever do come up with a number for border security, we’d be wise to multiply it by at least 10.
I apologize for my previous post being clearly off-subject.
I am just so fed-up with the current wave of “drunken sailor” budgets by these same goofball conservatives who finger wagged about “tax and spend liberalism” for so many years.
Oh, and I also apologize to drunken sailors who blow THEIR OWN paychecks and not everybody elses, too.
You’re right, GregAllen. Every time we compare our current crop of “leaders” to drunken sailors, we slander the fine servicemen who make excellent use of their shore leave, possibly drink a little too much, and blow at most a single paycheck that was made payable to them in the first place. We need a more fitting metaphor 😉
and of course the thing is that embryonic stem-cell research will be done overseas and US researchers will be *ahem* Left Behind.
Will those Concerned Women for America volunteer to have those embryos implanted in their bodies so they will no longer be wrongfully imprisoned at fertility clinics?