I don't think we should underestimate the power of the opposition to ESCR. 
These folks have been organizing for years now, taking over state 
legislatures, school boards, forming "think" tanks, etc.  I didn't realize 
this all started with Reagan until it really bloomed under Bush the Younger. 
It used to be medical research was not a political issue.  I seriously doubt 
that  Jonas Salk could have developed a polio vaccine today, since he used 
fetal tissue in his research.  The "culture wars" are real and threaten to 
issue in a new Dark Ages IMHO.

Ray

Rayilyn Brown
Director AZNPF
Arizona Chapter National Parkinson Foundation
[log in to unmask]

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Kathleen Cochran" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2009 7:59 PM
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Democrats Debate Methods to End Stem Cell Ban

> "...such a legislative fight holds the potential to get the year off to a
> difficult beginning..."
>
> Difficult is pretty much what's expected in every arena, one would think. 
> If
> our president and our legislators shy away from "difficult," we are in 
> very
> deep trouble indeed.
>
> Kathleen
>
>
> 2009/1/3 [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
>
>> from: New York Times
>> January 3, 2009Democrats Debate Methods to End Stem Cell Ban By CARL
>> HULSEWASHINGTON — Thwarted by President Bush in their efforts to expand
>> federal spending on embryonic stem cell research, Democrats are now 
>> debating
>> whether to overturn federal restrictions through executive order or by
>> legislation when they assume full control of the government this month.
>> Both President-elect Barack Obama and Democratic Congressional leaders 
>> have
>> made repealing Bush administration restrictions announced in 2001 a top
>> priority. But they have yet to determine if Mr. Obama should quickly put 
>> his
>> stamp on the issue by way of presidential directive, or if Congress 
>> should
>> write a permanent policy into statute.
>> The debate is not academic. Democrats who oppose abortion say such a
>> legislative fight holds the potential to get the year off to a difficult
>> beginning, even though the outcome is certain given solid majorities in 
>> both
>> the House and the Senate for expanded embryonic stem cell research.
>> "It is a very divisive issue, and it is a tough way to start," said 
>> Senator
>> Ben Nelson, a moderate Democrat from Nebraska. "You don't want to stumble
>> out of the box."
>> In addition, many of the Democratic gains in Congress, particularly in 
>> the
>> House, have come in more conservative areas, with strategists estimating
>> that up to 70 Democrats could find themselves in competitive races in 
>> 2010.
>> Those potentially vulnerable lawmakers provide another consideration for
>> leaders weighing whether to set an early test vote on what for some is a
>> politically sensitive subject back home.
>> At the same time, officials note that increasing federal spending on stem
>> cell research is widely popular and has been a signature issue for
>> Congressional Democrats in the last two elections, helping them defeat
>> Republicans opposed to the concept. Many lawmakers would like to see it
>> through to its legislative conclusion.
>> "I myself would favor legislation, so it is the law," Speaker Nancy 
>> Pelosi,
>> Democrat of California, said this week.
>> In the end, Ms. Pelosi and representatives of the incoming Obama
>> administration say it is likely that Mr. Obama will move quickly to roll
>> back the Bush policy, with Congress following with a comprehensive
>> initiative that addresses a more far-reaching federal provision limiting 
>> the
>> scientific work.
>> That result would be welcomed by Representative Diana DeGette, Democrat 
>> of
>> Colorado and an author of the stem cell measure twice vetoed by Mr. 
>> Bush —
>> once in 2006 when Republicans still controlled Congress and again in 2007
>> after Democrats took over.
>> Ms. DeGette said her view was that Mr. Obama should act to hasten any new
>> research rather than see a bill get tied up in the early days of the
>> session. Congress can then draft its own, more detailed version providing
>> money for new research and dealing with ethical issues surrounding the 
>> stem
>> cell question.
>> "I think we can do this in a win-win situation," she said.
>> Democrats also say they hope to reduce the divisiveness of the debate by
>> framing the stem cell policy as more of a health care issue with the
>> potential to provide new treatments, and less of a fight that spills over
>> into the abortion arena.
>> But anti-abortion leaders in Congress say that they are determined to
>> resist changes in the stem cell policy and that their opponents will be 
>> held
>> accountable at home, even if the political climate in Washington has
>> shifted.
>> "Pro-life members in both caucuses will fight strongly to preserve 
>> sanctity
>> of life ethics," said Representative Joe Pitts, Republican of 
>> Pennsylvania.
>> "If they force it by legislation, those will be the votes the pro-life
>> community will score to educate the voters as to where members stand on
>> these issues."
>> Last year, it seemed that the human embryo dispute was about to become
>> moot. Two groups of researchers, followed shortly by a third, 
>> independently
>> reported that they could convert human skin cells into embryonic stem 
>> cells,
>> bypassing embryos altogether. And immediately, the field of embryonic 
>> stem
>> cell research began to explode. Laboratories that had steered clear of 
>> the
>> field because of the sheer difficulty of working within the constraints 
>> of
>> the ban on federal financing realized they could simply make their own 
>> stem
>> cells from skin cells and study them, with no impediments.
>> But stem cells from human embryos are still very much needed, researchers
>> say. The federal ban has meant that only a small group of researchers has
>> worked with those cells, but if the ban were lifted, it is likely that 
>> more
>> laboratories would get involved and science would move forward faster.
>> "At this point, adult cell reprogramming is still new enough that it is
>> conceivable that there will be a fly in the ointment," said Sean J.
>> Morrison, director of the Center for Stem Cell Biology at the University 
>> of
>> Michigan.
>> In the meantime, those who have the facilities to work with both types of
>> stem cells are doing so.
>> Stem cells from human embryos, "are the gold standard," said Dr. George 
>> Q.
>> Daley, a stem cell researcher at Children's Hospital in Boston and the
>> Harvard Stem Cell Institute. Before they can be replaced by cells derived
>> from skin cells, researchers have to know, at a detailed molecular level,
>> how similar the two types of stem cells are, and how different.
>> "There are still so many unknowns," Dr. Daley said. "I am going to 
>> continue
>> to have my lab use both at the same time."
>> What is certain, Democrats say, is that they will, at minimum, reverse 
>> Mr.
>> Bush's policy and open the way to more federal aid to such research.
>> Gina Kolata contributed reporting from New York.
>> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/03/washington/03stem.html?_r=1&th&emc=th
>>
>>
>>
>>
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