EDITORIAL: Send Bill to Bush, Then Override Veto
By The Wisconsin State Journal
Jan. 10–The U.S. House of Representatives should give hope Thursday to thousands of suffering Americans by voting to ease federal funding restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research.
The amazing science can dramatically improve medical treatments and potentially cure life-threatening conditions, such as Parkinson’s, diabetes, spinal cord injury and heart disease.
But President Bush has stubbornly and needlessly hampered federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research, which was pioneered at UW-Madison.
The House should reject — again — the president’s position Thursday. The House should approve a bill allowing federal funding for research on new stem cells derived from embryos destined to be discarded by fertility clinics anyway.
A bipartisan majority in the formerly Republican-run Congress passed the same bill last year, only to face a Bush veto. And Bush says he’ll veto the latest bill as well.
That means Congress, with stronger support from Wisconsin’s delegation, should pass the bill and then override Bush’s veto if necessary. Democrats who now control Congress believe they have two-thirds support for an override in the House and the Senate.
Bush’s unwise policy of limiting federal funding to research on embryonic stem-cell lines derived before 2001 is slowing medical progress. The “blank slate” cells can grow into many kinds of human cells, giving them tremendous potential to fight and cure disease.
When stem cells are harvested, the embryos are only about five days old — a small collection of cells invisible to the naked eye.
Critics claim the procedure constitutes murder. But the critics ignore a key fact — these tiny bits of cells would be destroyed anyway during in vitro fertilization, a process that helps women get pregnant and which produces more embryos than needed.
The vast majority of Americans understand that using these tiny cells to save lives is far better than simply throwing them in the trash.
Earlier this week, a Wake Forest University researcher announced progress on amniotic stem-cell research using fluid from pregnant women. Anthony Atala’s technique, if perfected over years, would not require the use of days-old embryos.
Critics of embryonic stem-cell research have seized on the news to try to defeat today’s House bill. But Atala himself said Monday that his work should not be considered a substitute for embryonic stem-cell research. Instead, both techniques should be allowed to pursue regenerative medicine therapies, he said.
The bill the House plans to vote on Thursday includes clear limits and careful, ethical safeguards on embryonic stem-cell research.
Wisconsin’s members of Congress should support the bill for the good of our state, its economy and the suffering residents who are rooting for discoveries.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Wisconsin State Journal
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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