Chicago Sun Times Editorial - It's folly for Bush to veto popular stem cell funding bill
Chicago Sun Times Editorial - It's folly for Bush to veto popular stem cell funding bill
Copyright By The Chicago Sun Times
July 17, 2006
He won't like it one bit, but the embryonic stem cell issue is going to land with a thud on President Bush's desk soon. Adviser Karl Rove says it could become the first veto the president has exercised since he took office in 2000. That would be folly. Most Americans support expanding the research that could save millions of lives. The Senate plans to vote Tuesday on three stem cell bills, but only one of them cuts to the heart of the matter.
Two of the bills are no-brainers, offered by Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), and will likely get full Senate support, as well as an OK from Bush. One would ban the idea of "fetus farms," ignobly named labs created especially to gestate fetuses for research. (No such labs exist.) The other calls for investigations into stem cell research that would not rely on human embryos.
The real challenge for the president, however, is a bill passed by the House last year and brought again last month to the Senate floor by Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) with the urging of Nancy Reagan, who had watched her husband, President Ronald Reagan, die slowly of Alzheimer's disease. The Specter/Harkin bill would completely oppose the president's existing policy and expand federal funding for stem cell investigation. It would allow for the use of human embryos received from fertility clinics that were not scheduled for implantation and would otherwise be destroyed. It is expected this bill will get at least 60 Senate votes and thus will be headed to the president's desk.
One of Bush's first acts had been to limit federal funding to stem cell lines already in existence -- only 22 lines -- which made it impossible for universities and research institutes that relied on Washington money to explore potential cures for juvenile diabetes, Parkinson's disease, spinal cord injuries and other chronic illnesses. The president said he would not "promote a science which destroys life in order to save life." But Frist, who is opposed to abortion and at one time decried human embryonic stem cell research, told the Senate last year he had changed his mind on the issue and that stem cell research "should be encouraged and supported," even though it could cost him support from far-right Christian groups if he decides to run for president.
The human embryonic stem cell issue is one that would be politically perilous for the president to veto. A Gallup poll in May showed 59 percent of Americans support this research vs. 36 percent who oppose it. Another Gallup poll the same month showed 61 percent of Americans felt it was morally acceptable to do research using stem cells obtained from human embryos. Most Democrats are for it, but so are many Republicans. Universities such as Harvard have received millions in private funding to pursue the research. The president would be wise to listen to the sentiments of the American people.
Copyright By The Chicago Sun Times
July 17, 2006
He won't like it one bit, but the embryonic stem cell issue is going to land with a thud on President Bush's desk soon. Adviser Karl Rove says it could become the first veto the president has exercised since he took office in 2000. That would be folly. Most Americans support expanding the research that could save millions of lives. The Senate plans to vote Tuesday on three stem cell bills, but only one of them cuts to the heart of the matter.
Two of the bills are no-brainers, offered by Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), and will likely get full Senate support, as well as an OK from Bush. One would ban the idea of "fetus farms," ignobly named labs created especially to gestate fetuses for research. (No such labs exist.) The other calls for investigations into stem cell research that would not rely on human embryos.
The real challenge for the president, however, is a bill passed by the House last year and brought again last month to the Senate floor by Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) with the urging of Nancy Reagan, who had watched her husband, President Ronald Reagan, die slowly of Alzheimer's disease. The Specter/Harkin bill would completely oppose the president's existing policy and expand federal funding for stem cell investigation. It would allow for the use of human embryos received from fertility clinics that were not scheduled for implantation and would otherwise be destroyed. It is expected this bill will get at least 60 Senate votes and thus will be headed to the president's desk.
One of Bush's first acts had been to limit federal funding to stem cell lines already in existence -- only 22 lines -- which made it impossible for universities and research institutes that relied on Washington money to explore potential cures for juvenile diabetes, Parkinson's disease, spinal cord injuries and other chronic illnesses. The president said he would not "promote a science which destroys life in order to save life." But Frist, who is opposed to abortion and at one time decried human embryonic stem cell research, told the Senate last year he had changed his mind on the issue and that stem cell research "should be encouraged and supported," even though it could cost him support from far-right Christian groups if he decides to run for president.
The human embryonic stem cell issue is one that would be politically perilous for the president to veto. A Gallup poll in May showed 59 percent of Americans support this research vs. 36 percent who oppose it. Another Gallup poll the same month showed 61 percent of Americans felt it was morally acceptable to do research using stem cells obtained from human embryos. Most Democrats are for it, but so are many Republicans. Universities such as Harvard have received millions in private funding to pursue the research. The president would be wise to listen to the sentiments of the American people.
posted by Carlos T Mock at 10:08 AM
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