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I tried watching the Senate Appropriation hearing on stem cell research today using my PC. The technology here is shaky -- I kept losing my dialup connection -- but I got much of the broadcast. The three patient representatives were articulate and persuasive, especially the woman with ALS. When I tuned in there was some testimony from opponents of stem cell research. Senator Specter wanted to be certain that all significant objections were heard and considered. A clergyman whose name I didn't catch was concerned that embryo research will put human life in the service of science, not science in the service of life, and that using embryos in research is degrading to human life. I want to respond to his two objections. Answering the first point seems straight-forward. It's fairly clear to me that as long as there is Congressional oversight of the NIH by people of the caliber of Senators Specter and Harkin, and as long as patient advocacy groups remain as involved as they are now, NIH funded research will proceed in the service of people with diseases. It is more difficult to address the second point, but I will try to approach it. The real difficulties on this point are compounded by the rhetoric of people like Judie Brown, a spokeswoman for the American Life League. A quote from her in a CNN report from today reads, "As deeply concerned as we are about the treatment and cure of disease, we don't believe the average American wants to see tiny embryonic boys and girls, little children, used as experimental material." Such language is incorrect. Ms. Brown, please be advised that the word for embryo is "embryo." The so-called pro-life movement holds all forms of human life to be inviolable. Yet even the Bible recognizes exceptions. Here's one: according to the New Testament, King James version, John 15 verse 13, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." I would presume that such an act of self sacrifice is undertaken in the presence of limited options, for serious reasons, and by informed choice, and that the value created by one's own death significantly exceeds the value of remaining alive. Aren't there similar circumstances regarding the extraction of stem cells from the frozen pre-implantation embryos left over from in vitro fertilization? The options are limited: either these stem cells will be destroyed and serve no purpose or else hey will be used in the service of curing diseases and relieving human suffering. Here also there are serious considerations, informed choice, and much to be gained. Phil Tompkins Amherst, Mass. age 62/dx 1990