Specter, Harkins : This Will Be Year
For Stem Cell Research
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) today will reintroduce the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, legislation to lift the Bush Administration’s restrictions on stem cell research. The bipartisan measure would allow federal funding for stem cell research using stem cell lines derived under strict ethical requirements from excess in vitro fertilization embryos, regardless of the date they were derived. It is the same bill that both houses of Congress approved in 2007, but was vetoed by President Bush. Senators Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) have cosponsored the legislation.
“For too long, political interference has delayed research that holds the promise for millions of Americans who suffer from a wide range of diseases,” said Harkin. “President Obama has promised to lift the restrictions on embryonic stem cell research that were put in place by President Bush, and I hope and expect that he will do so soon, but we have to make sure that the freedom to pursue this research is also protected by Federal law, not merely by an executive order that can be reversed during a future administration."
“President Obama has indicated that he will overturn the current restrictions on stem cell research, but this legislation is necessary to codify this important policy change so that it does not ping-pong back and forth with each successive President,” Specter said. “A legislative fix to the current restrictions is a more complete solution to ensure that medical research is pursued with all possible haste to cure the diseases and maladies affecting Americans.”
Top researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), leading Nobel Prize scientists and countless health and medical leaders have all advocated for the expansion of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. NIH estimates there are currently more than 400 stem cell lines worldwide. Because of the restrictions currently in place by the Bush Administration, federal funding can be used to study just 21 of those lines, all of which were grown with mouse cells, an outdated method that raises concerns about contamination. Hundreds of new stem cell lines have been derived since the Bush Administration’s restrictions went into effect that are uncontaminated and healthy, but off-limits to federally funded scientists.
“For too long, political interference has delayed research that holds the promise for millions of Americans who suffer from a wide range of diseases,” said Harkin. “President Obama has promised to lift the restrictions on embryonic stem cell research that were put in place by President Bush, and I hope and expect that he will do so soon, but we have to make sure that the freedom to pursue this research is also protected by Federal law, not merely by an executive order that can be reversed during a future administration."
“President Obama has indicated that he will overturn the current restrictions on stem cell research, but this legislation is necessary to codify this important policy change so that it does not ping-pong back and forth with each successive President,” Specter said. “A legislative fix to the current restrictions is a more complete solution to ensure that medical research is pursued with all possible haste to cure the diseases and maladies affecting Americans.”
Top researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), leading Nobel Prize scientists and countless health and medical leaders have all advocated for the expansion of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. NIH estimates there are currently more than 400 stem cell lines worldwide. Because of the restrictions currently in place by the Bush Administration, federal funding can be used to study just 21 of those lines, all of which were grown with mouse cells, an outdated method that raises concerns about contamination. Hundreds of new stem cell lines have been derived since the Bush Administration’s restrictions went into effect that are uncontaminated and healthy, but off-limits to federally funded scientists.
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