Scientists, senators testify on stem cell research
July 18, 2001 Posted:  8:20 PM EDT (0020 GMT)
Yale University's Dr. Diane Krause argued in favor
of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research
By KC Wildmoon  CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The debate over embryonic stem cell
research took on a more dispassionate tone on Wednesday
as scientists and senators testified before a Senate subcommittee
on the controversial science.

The staid proceedings lacked the emotional firepower
of Tuesday's House subcommittee hearing on the same subject,
but the dividing line between those who supported federal
funding for the research and those who oppose it was just
as clear.

Opponents of the research, like Dr. Richard Dorflinger of the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, argued that
the idea of the federal government funding such research
"is illegal, immoral and unnecessary."

Dorflinger, who opposes embryonic research of any kind,
argued that enough private funding was available to support
such studies without "forcing U.S. taxpayers to pay
for the deliberate destruction of embryos
(to obtain stem cells)."

RESOURCES
Read the NIH stem cell report But proponents, like Dr. Mary Hendrix
of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology,
argued that the research was too important to be left to private
researchers, noting that researchers are required to share data
when their work is federally funded.

The senators who testified before the Senate Appropriations
subcommittee echoed the scientists, with the proponents
draping their testimony deep within a mantel of ethical
considerations.

"I am absolutely convinced ... that we can address the use
of living tissue, of living cells that otherwise would not be
used," said Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tennessee, the Senate's only
physician. "I believe within an appropriate ethical construct,
we can use that tissue to the benefit of hundreds of others,
thousands of others, maybe millions of others."

Kansas Republican Sen. Sam Brownback, however, took the other
side.

"We all on this panel, I believe, all in this room agree that this
embryo is alive," Brownback said. "The central question remains,
is it a life? Or is it a mere piece of property to be disposed
of as its master chooses?"

Differing choices
Dr. Richard Dorflinger: Federal funding is "illegal, immoral and
 unnecessary"

Both Tuesday's hearing and Wednesday's hearing came
as President Bush is considering whether to support federal
funding for embryonic stem cell research -- and as the National
Institutes of Health released a study supporting it.

On Tuesday, childless couples who had adopted embryos
pleaded against the funding while those with debilitating
diseases argued in favor, both playing to the emotions with
dramatic presentations.

"Which of my children would you kill?" John Borden, holding
his twin sons -- born of adopted embryos implanted in his
wife's womb -- asked the members of a House subcommittee.

But Shelbie Oppenheimer, who suffers from ALS, commonly
called Lou Gehrig's disease, saw the choice differently.

"Mr. President, you are presented with a choice. Your choice
is about different things to different people," she said
at a news conference before the hearing began.
"All viewpoints deserving respect, all viewpoints founded
in the love of life. In the life I love here, this is what your decision
means to me. You have the choice to be pro-life for an
unimplanted frozen embryo that will be discarded or pro-life
for me. Members of Congress and President Bush, I am asking
you to choose me."

Sen. Bill Frist of Tennessee, the Senate's only physician,
favors the funding Wednesday's hearing lacked the fireworks
of the House version, however, partly because the chairman
of the Senate subcommittee -- Democrat Tom Harkin of Iowa --
and its ranking Republican -- Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania --
are the co-sponsors of a bill to allow funding of stem cell
research.

The subcommittee heard from three senators and six researchers
who favored the research and one senator and two doctors
who did not.

"Are we on the brink of being able to solve such terrible diseases
as Parkinson's, ALS, diabetes, juvenile diabetes, cancer? I think
we are," said Brownback. "And I think there's a right route that
we can go with this, and I think it's the adult stem cell route that
does not have the ethical and moral questions that we have
surrounding the embryonic that is also showing a great deal
of promise."

'What is a life?'
Dr. Diane Krause of Yale University -- whose studies with adult
stem cells have been cited by opponents of embryonic research --
said to bar use of embryonic stem cells simply because adult cell
research was showing promise "is to play odds with people's
lives."

Krause said she was unhappy that opponents were "using my
data to justify this interpretation" and said that adult stem cells
simply lacked the versatility of embryonic cells -- and to choose
either over the other, while scientists have no idea which will be
most beneficial, was shortsighted.

Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback asked the subcommittee
to consider the question: "Is it a life?" And Dr. Michael West
of Advanced Cell Technologies told the senators that, while
he holds staunch pro-life views, he was absolutely in favor of
embryonic stem cell research.

Those who argued against it because of a moral stance, he said,
may be misusing "information about what is a life."

"Human cells are alive. We know this," he said. "To say there
is human life in a sperm cell or an egg cell is correct."

"But these cells have not committed to becoming any cell
in the body," he continued. "This cell mass (used to retrieve
stem cells) is not individualized. ... Not only are these cells not
body cells of any kind, they have not even become individual.
To ascribe to unindividualized cells the status of a human
is a logical inconsistency."

SOURCE: CNN.com
http://www.cnn.com/2001/HEALTH/07/18/stem.cell.senate/index.html

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