# 286 Friday January 26, 2007 - NEW LAW DISGUISED ATTACK ON EMBRYONIC STEM
CELL RESEARCH

A deceptive and dangerous new anti-embryonic stem cell research law is being
offered by Senator Norm Coleman, Republican of Minnesota.
This bill contains a way to block new embryonic stem cell lines.
PREDICTION:   President Bush will come out in full support of this bill-- as
he vetoes the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act for the second time.
The bill (I have not seen a number attached to it yet) is titled:
"The Hope Offered through Principled, Ethically-Sound Stem Cell Research
 Act".
When I first saw Senator Coleman's bill offered, ($5 billion for
"alternative" stem cell research)  I thought, well, it's just another
ridiculous expansion of adult stem cell research, already heavily funded by
the Bush Administration-but then I read it more carefully.
Sean Tipton, President of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical
Research, put it well when he said:
 "Senator Coleman is looking.to disguise his opposition to meaningful stem
cell research."
The Coleman bill is a continuation and expansion of the Bush Administration
policy, a surge of more money in the wrong direction. It is a "cover" bill,
which the President will sign with much fanfare, to distract us from his
second veto of the only real stem cell research bill available: the s
But it gets worse: much worse.
The so-called "Hope Act" contains a provision which could block development
of new embryonic stem cell lines.
First, a quick overview:
 "Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., presented legislation on Tuesday that would
provide $5 billion over ten years for stem cell research methods that don't
harm embryos.
  "The President's current policy does not provide enough federal funding
for embryonic stem cell research. I believe we can do more-without crossing
the ethical line of using taxpayer dollars for the destruction of human
embryos", Coleman said..."
"The money would also go toward promoting embryo adoption from in-vitro
fertilization clinics.
.and developing protocols to match the number of embryos created in
fertility clinics with the number needed for pregnancy." (emphasis added).*
--Brady Averill, Star Tribune, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Minnesota, January 23,
2007
By this provision, the "HOPE" bill could shut down new embryonic stem cell
lines.
Remember, the only source of new embryonic stem cell lines we have right now
is the sperm-and-egg blastocysts left over from fertility clinics. The wife
and husband usually make about twenty of the microscopic blastocysts, so the
embryologist can choose the strongest one or two for implantation in the
woman's womb, to try and make a baby.  Blastocysts not implanted, of course,
can never become a child. They remain invisible bits of tissue, frozen in
liquid nitrogen. They can be stored forever (expensive), be given to other
couples (which does happen, although rarely, despite massive publicity) or
flushed down the toilet-or be donated to become new stem cell lines.
Restricting the number of blastocysts by law would criminalize the
development of new embryonic stem cell lines.
This is how the Vatican blocked embryonic stem cell research in Italy.
 Here is something every stem cell research supporter should know.
Backed by the religious power of the Vatican, Italy's legislators came up
with a law (called "Law 40") to stop embryonic stem cell research-- by one
very simple provision.
"Law 40.states that no more than three.(blastocysts) may be fertilized in
vitro, and that they must be transferred into the womb simultaneously."
(source: "The Scientist: Magazine of the Life Sciences", June 14, 2005)
Not only does this provide fewer chances for the couple to have a baby, but
by limiting the number to three and insisting that all must be implanted,
means there are no left-overs; no leftover blastocysts means no embryonic
stem cell research.
Law 40 is a cruel policy that will one day be repudiated.
If a similar policy was implemented in America, embryonic stem cell research
could be blocked.
Do I exaggerate?
Here is Senator Coleman's own press release.
"The legislation will also create the National Stem Cell Research Review
Board to oversee the research, ethical and legal guidelines for the
federally funded research.
"If any research method. is found to harm or destroy human embryos, the
Review Board will halt that research immediately."
So there you have it: a provision to deny blastocysts needed for the
research, and a political oversight group to control the research.
What if they decided,  for instance, that Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer
(SCNT) creates an embryo? (It would not be logical; SCNT involves neither
sperm nor implantation, and to me is an ovasome, not an embryo, but logic
does not always win in such situations.) The review board could easily shut
down federally SCNT research all across the country.
And the bait we are offered to make us swallow the hook, the five billion
dollars for "alternative" stem cell research? Are those non-embryonic
research methods starved for funding?
On the contrary: under the Bush authority, "alternative" stem cell methods
have been overwhelmingly favored-by a margin of 20 to 1.
White House statistics reveal this preferential funding. In six years the
Bush policy has provided only "$130 million.to embryonic" research, compared
to "nearly $3 billion.on all forms of stem cells..."*
Hope Act? This is more like a wish list for the Religious Right.
Overwhelming funding preference given to non-embryonic research? Blastocysts
limited to only those needed for pregnancy alone? A committee with the power
to shut down medical research?
The Coleman bill reads like it was written by the Bush Administration.
*" Advancing Stem Cell Science Without Destroying Human Life", Domestic
Policy Council, The White House, January 9, 2007",  Executive Summary, p.2
By Don Reed, Californians for Cure   www.stemcellbattles.com

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