Maryland Senate Approves Stem Cell Research
By John Wagner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 9, 2006; 12:42 PM
The Maryland Senate this morning approved a bill that would allow the state to fund stem cell research, moving forward on legislation that died in the chamber a year ago amid a threatened filibuster.
The 29-18 vote followed an hour of impassioned debate from supporters who touted the promise the research holds for treatment of debilitating conditions and from opponents who voiced strong ethical objections to one form of the research that involves the destruction of human embryos.
Sen. Paula C. Hollinger (D-Baltimore County) said the bill would offer hope to people with Parkinson's disease, juvenile diabetes and other conditions. She brushed aside concerns from opponents that embryonic stem cell research had yet to yield concrete therapies.
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Maryland is seeking to join a growing number of states that have sought to fund embryonic stem cell research in the wake of a 2001 executive order by President Bush that limited funding for the controversial science.
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