Senate showdown nears over embryonic stem-cell policy
WASHINGTON -- Patients and families grappling with long-term, debilitating diseases will be watching this week as the Senate debates lifting President Bush's restrictions on federally funded research using embryonic stem cells.
The House has passed the legislation, and the Senate is expected to follow suit on Tuesday.
Bush has promised to veto the measure; this would be the first veto of his presidency.
Groups on both sides of the debate are blanketing Capitol Hill with messages, via briefings, e-mail, and telephone calls.
And both are supremely confident of their views. Claire McCaskill, a Democratic candidate for the Senate from Missouri, urged support for legislation yesterday.
The research, she said, ``holds early promise" to cure Parkinson's disease, diabetes, sickle cell anemia, and other illnesses. In the Democrats' weekly radio address, McCaskill called on Americans to urge senators to support the bill.
Other advocates say they believe that embryonic stem cell research holds promise for treating Alzheimer's, cancer, and spinal cord injuries.
``Every year we delay is another year we're not getting to find a cure," said Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah. ``It's very difficult to justify abandoning 7,000 to 20,000 in-vitro eggs as medical waste."
Bush's policy prohibits the use of stem cells from embryos that would have otherwise been destroyed through the in-vitro fertilization process.
Opponents have said that the research is morally wrong, and that it serves only to destroy human life with little promise of providing results.
Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council, in an interview last week, called the research ``unethical and ineffective." ``The results speak for themselves," he said. ``Embryonic stem-cell research has produced no successful treatment for human beings, whereas adult stem cell research has produced results for over 70 different medical conditions."
Scientists at the American Society for Cell Biology, on the other hand, say that embryonic stem cells are capable of forming all of the tissue types found in the human body. That could allow for the replacement of damaged and diseased cells and organs, as well as the possibility of testing and developing new drugs.
In 2001, Bush prohibited federally funded research using embryonic stem-cell lines derived after Aug. 9 of that year. Scientists have complained that only 22 of the stem-cell lines were available for use, and that they were of limited genetic diversity.
The stem-cell issue has drawn a range of support from both sides of the aisle. Opinion polls have found widespread support for the research; such Republican icons as Nancy Reagan, the former first lady, favor it.
Reagan, whose late husband suffered from Alzheimer's disease, has been calling senators, urging them to support the legislation.
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican of Texas, who spoke with Reagan on Wednesday, said she decided to vote for the bill. She said she was persuaded because it is limited to ``embryos that would otherwise be thrown away."
While most Democrats are expected to support the bill, Republicans are divided.
Nevertheless, Bush's veto is expected to settle the debate -- at least for this year. Neither the House nor Senate is expected to have the votes to override a veto. 