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Right To Life Committee Working to Defeat Stem Cell Research Bills By Jim Burns CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer July 02, 2001 Charlotte, N.C. (CNSNews.com) - The National Right To Life Committee's legislative director is calling on members to mount a massive grassroots effort to defeat bills in Congress supporting stem cell research. Speaking Saturday at the NRLC's annual convention in Charlotte, Douglas Johnson said the main issue is whether federal funds should be used for "embryo destructive research." "The media wants to cast it as a question of being for or against stem cell research. That is not really the issue," Johnson told convention delegates. "It's not really the stem cells that are the focus of the argument. It's where they come from. The controversial type of research requires the killing of human embryos and that is what we object to." Johnson noted that a law passed in 1996 (the Dickey amendment) prohibits federal funding of any research in which human embryos are harmed. Congress is expected to vote on the stem cell research legislation some time this fall. One of the bills, introduced by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), would allow federal funding of stem cell research. Johnson called Sen. Specter a pro-abortion advocate who is "vehemently in favor of federal funding of embryo destructive research" Johnson said Specter wants federal funds to be used "to obtain and kill human embryos to get their stem cells so that they can be used for research." This could happen soon, Johnson said, now that Democrats control the Senate's legislative agenda. Specter introduced the legislation last April. He said he supports federal funding for stem cell research, given its potential to cure Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, spinal cord injury, heart disease, perhaps cancer, and many other diseases. According to a statement on Specter's website, "Some scientists believe that stem cell research could lead to tangible benefits to Parkinson's Disease patients in as soon as 7 to 10 years." Specter's legislation, which is co-sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), stipulates that any federally-funded stem cell research would have to be done using only those embryos "which would otherwise be discarded from in-vitro fertilization clinics, with the expressed consent of the donating families." Under Specter's bill, fertility clinic "leftovers" would be the only "narrow and specific source" of stem cells. Specter also thinks it's necessary to "liberate medical researchers from any restrictions on the use of discarded embryos and fetal tissue to produce stem cells." The NRLC prefers legislation being proposed by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), who considers federally funded embryonic stem-cell research "illegal, immoral and unnecessary." "Taxpayer funding of this research is problematic for a variety of reasons," said Brownback during a floor speech in June. "First among those concerns is that, if Congress were to approve [Specter's] bill, it would officially declare for the first time in our nation's history that government may exploit and destroy human life for its own, or somebody else's purposes." According to Brownback, stem cell research involving human embryos is unnecessary. "There are legitimate areas of research which are showing more promise than embryonic stem cell research, areas which do not create moral and ethical difficulties." He advocates more research into stem cells harvested from adults. "New advances in adult stem cell research, being reported almost weekly, show more promise than destructive embryo research, and I believe should receive a significant increase in [federal] funding," said Brownback. Brownback said it's important to continue the fight to help cure disease and alleviate suffering. However, he said, "It is never acceptable to deliberately kill one innocent human being in order to help another. When did it become acceptable to use an evil means to pursue a good end, even a great one? Doesn't the so-called good end actually become bad by using bad means?" he asked. If curing disease means killing the "most defenseless and innocent of human beings, we will rightfully be judged harshly by history as having sought some benefits at the expense of our humanity and moral being," he concluded. President Bush is expected to decide very soon whether to allow federal dollars to fund medical research using stem cells from human embryos. Although he has said he personally opposes the use of human embryos, the president faces strong pressure from patients' groups and biotech companies to reverse the current ban on federal funding for stem cell research. http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=\Culture\archive\200107\CUL20010702a.html * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn