A sensible step on stem cell research

The saga on stem cells took two important twists in recent days. One was from a court standing behind its decision two weeks earlier that sent the pro-life community cheering by halting taxpayer dollars to unethical embryonic stem cell research. The second was from opponents in Congress hoping to keep the money flowing. The now uncertain future course on stem cell research helps to make a clear case for taking a sensible step: prioritizing funding for research that is ethical and has demonstrated success.
While Rep. DeGette’s Stem Cell Research Advancement Act (H.R. 4808) would authorize taxpayer dollars for research involving the killing of human embryos, it goes much further. Human cloning would also become legitimate. Under a deceptively written definition, human cloning would be permitted as long as a clone is not implanted. Fittingly, many call it the clone and kill bill.

Yet the congressional tug-of-war on a preferred route to finding treatments to diseases and other ailments using stem cells helps to make the case for another bill, one that has lingered in Congress since its introduction. The Patients First Act (H.R. 877) would do exactly as its title suggests: put patients ahead of politics, making the treatment of patients—not the pursuit of what’s been dead-end, unethical research.

(read more and link to contact legislators at end of article)