Supporters of stem cell bill pushing for full Senate vote

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Supporters of stem cell bill pushing for full Senate vote

COX NEWS SERVICE and ASSOCIATED PRESS

July 13, 2005

WASHINGTON – Backers of government funding for stem cell research said yesterday they would push for a Senate vote despite a move to shift support to new proposals that supposedly would not involve destruction of human embryos.

Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said the new proposals are being used to try to draw votes away from their bill, which would remove restrictions President Bush placed in 2001 on using federal funds for embryonic stem cell research.

Embryonic stem cells are attractive to researchers because of a property known as "pluripotency," meaning that they can develop into any kind of body tissue. This ability may make new treatments possible for a number of devastating diseases.

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During yesterday's brief but contentious hearing of the Senate appropriations subcommittee that oversees health spending, Specter complained that the restrictions are holding up potentially life-saving research and said it was "scandalous" that research on stem cell lines derived from unwanted human embryos has been stalled.

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