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Republican Compromise Measure on ESCR?---I Don't think so! by fayeforcure Sun Apr 08, 2007 at 09:15:21 PM PDT Why does the MSM insist on calling ESCR detour bills: "compromise" measures? The Senate will consider two bills, one virtually identical to a bill vetoed by President George W. Bush last year that would have expanded and encouraged federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research. The other is a compromise measure worked out by Republicans Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia and Norm Coleman of Minnesota. It would encourage stem cell research on embryos that have naturally lost the ability to develop into fetuses, such as those that have died "naturally" during fertility treatments. Yeah, sure......I know what we are compromising here: it's the lives of millions of americans who suffer incurable and deadly conditions who simply cannot afford to wait, while lengthy detours are being worked out which include funding for various types of adult stem cells instead of legitimate federal support for embryonic stem cell research. The complexity of the provisions in S30 is a deliberate attempt to derail ESCR. And this bill in No Way deserves to be called a "compromise" bill by the MSM. As a matter of fact we must STOP S 30 altogether. Tell your Senators you want them to VOTE NO!! fayeforcure's diary :: :: Deception, misinformation and delay is the name of the game for the anti-ESCR folks. These folks have been churning out decoy bills galore in the past 6 years to block our efforts to overturn the Bush imposed restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. The newest bill, S 30, is one that is sponsored by both Isakson and Coleman. To their credit both have admitted that the current Bush restrictions are extremely detrimental to the cutting edge science of embryonic stem cell research and that this science holds enormous promise. Each had already independently come up with a bill, but Isakson's proposal was merged with the Coleman "HOPE" bill. The deception starts with the naming of this bill. Using the term HOPE is literally offensive if it isn't what the folks with incurable and deadly conditions actually consider "hope". Those who are really the ones waiting for hope are siding with the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act S 5. It's the only bill which will truly expand embryonic stem cell research immediately. Why must we continuously cater to the 30% religious extremists while ignoring the 70% support for unfettered ESCR among the general population? While the sponsors of S30 claim that their bill would also allow ESCR beyond Bush's limitations, and Bush has already said he supports their bill, it is primarily formulated to promote work-arounds to already established ways of developing ESC lines. The bill is also laden with buzzwords like banking of amniotic and placental stem cells, clearly intended to divert attention from the pressing need for embryonic stem cell research funding. Coleman has said as much: "By intensifying support for nondestructive alternatives, we can advance medical research in valuable ways while respecting ethical boundaries." But it's far more dangerous than that. It could also hold back science for years to come because of the bill's attempt to codify SCNT as unethical, and its exclusion of research where "the destruction or discarding of, or risk of injury to, a human embryo or embryos other than those that are naturally dead" takes place. That implies that the current 300+ newer ESC lines were developed "unethically", and through the Isakson provision scientists now are to sort through the discards of blastocysts, to select only those which are unviable in order to derive future ESC lines, which would then be eligible for federally funded research. But does it matter whether or not an embryo was viable prior to being discarded? Even the viable left-over blastocysts from infertility treatments which are being discarded by the thousands every day,....... become unviable in the trash. All these artificial limits are rediculous. First we had an arbitrary date beyond which we couldn't use any newer and better stem cell lines in federally funded research per Bush's 2001 decree. This continues to cause tax payer monies to be wasted on the study of old pre-2001 embryonic stem cell lines. Now we face these new restrictions, where scientists would be sorting through the blastocyst discards from infertility treatments, to find and use only those blastocysts which were never viable before being discarded........what the heck?........Trash is trash, and all of it ought to be recyclable in federally funded research to be turned into life's treasures: the sought after cures for suffering patients! As Nancy Reagan has said: "we have waited far too long already" S 30 is a disasterous bill, and offers nothing more than a deadly detour to true ESCR. Please call to ask your Senator to oppose S 30 and support S 5. And all of us ought to call Senators Casey and Sununu, to ensure that we get a veto proof majority on S 5. None of us want to wait until 2008 to get the kind of President who will listen to 70% of the american population by signing the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act into law. So getting a veto proof majority on S 5 right now is the ONLY way to go to get federally funded ESCR started in earnest before 2008. Tags: stem cell research, Bush, Coleman, Isakson, hope, cures, veto (all tags) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn