Hope Offered Through Principled And Ethical Stem Cell Research Act--Continued--
Floor Speech
HOPE OFFERED THROUGH PRINCIPLED AND ETHICAL STEM CELL RESEARCH ACT--Continued -- (Senate - April 11, 2007)
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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I yield myself 10 minutes from this side.
Mr. President, I come to the floor today to speak out in strong support of the promising research that can save lives and bring hope to millions of Americans. I will vote for the Stem Cell Enhancement Act of 2007, and I urge all of our colleagues to do so.
More importantly, I urge President Bush to finally hear the voices of scientists, medical leaders, patients, and more than 500 organizations that have said loudly and clearly that it is time for promising research to move forward in this country. It is time to take the handcuffs off of our scientists, those who say they will then be able to pursue what all Americans are hoping for and promising research for so many diseases that impact so many of our families. For too long, this President has allowed politics and ideology to trump lifesaving research. We have to correct that mistake. The bill, S. 5, we are considering today shows us how.
Throughout this country, Americans are suffering from diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and they and their families are looking to us for help. We have scientists and researchers who are so eager to provide that help, but today, as we all know, their hands are tied by the arbitrary restrictions President Bush imposed back in 2001.
I believe we can allow research on embryonic stem cells, and we can do so with strong ethical guidelines that are required under this legislation.
Back in August of 2001, President Bush greatly limited the number of embryonic stem cells that were available for federally funded research. Those limits were based on inaccurate science and ideology, and they have restricted our ability to make progress. At the time, the White House said there were 78 stem cell lines available for federally funded research, but now we know there are only 21 such lines. Researchers, those men and woman whom we count on to find cures to the diseases that impact so many, believe it is imperative to have access to newer, more promising stem cell lines that do not pose the risk of contamination.
The first consequence of the President's restriction has been to limit hope and to limit progress for families who suffer from these diseases. The second impact has been to push embryonic stem cell research overseas. That means that our country is falling behind other countries in a cutting-edge field.
Because of the President's imposed arbitrary limits, we are now in this country surrendering our scientific leadership to other countries.
That can have far-reaching consequences for our economy and for our future.
My State of Washington is home to world-class research institutions such as the University of Washington. I want our country and institutions such as that to be the leading edge of scientific frontiers so our country and all of us can benefit from the new advances.
The bill we are considering today and will vote on this evening will lift the President's arbitrary restrictions and put in place expanded research under strict ethical guidelines. It would direct the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct and support research on stem cells that are derived from frozen embryos that are now stored in fertility clinics that would otherwise be destroyed. This bill also promotes research into finding alternative ways to derive stem cells that do not involve the destruction of an embryo. This bill imposes strong ethical guidelines. In fact, the guidelines in this bill are even stricter than the President's policy.
Embryonic stem cell research is a relatively young field. These cells were not even isolated in humans until 1998. Scientists believe that embryonic stem cells are more valuable than adult stem cells because they can develop into any type of cell or tissue in the body. Think of all the veterans who are coming home from the war in Iraq who have spinal cord injuries. Think of all the veterans of the first gulf war who are now being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and who could be helped by this promising research.
In my own family, I have seen up close and personally the impact a disease such as multiple sclerosis can have. When I was 15 years old, my dad was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
I saw him in just a few years going from working to being someone who was home in a wheelchair every single day every single minute. For the rest of his life, my father was confined to a wheelchair. I can't tell you what a profound impact that had on my family. My mom had to stay home and raise myself and my six brothers and sisters. She had to go back to work and get a job and she had to stay home and take care of him, all at the same time. It was a very difficult time for my family. The medical bills were amazing. The challenges my family went through because of my dad's illness were incredible. I can only imagine what it might have been like had there been a cure for MS for my family and for thousands of others. When I was growing up, the promise of this type of research was not even on the horizon. Today that potential is in our hands. We need to do everything we can to make sure that that research is done so families such as mine have hope and opportunity in the future.
I hope we don't see it continually blocked by an ideological policy that puts politics over science. It is time to change course and put our Government on the side of the patients and their families and to give them hope again.
Last month the Director of the National Institutes of Health told us:
[I]t is clear today that American science would be better served and the nation would be better served if we let our scientists have access to more cell lines .....
The NIH Director said that existing lines will not be sufficient for the research that needs to be done, and he said that adult stem cells do not have the same potential as embryonic stem cells. That is the scientific view of the Director of the National Institutes of Health. The Senate and the President would be very wise to heed his counsel.
I know what it is like to grow up with someone who has a serious illness. I can only imagine what it would have been like to know there was hope and a chance for a cure. I know of many families out there who have been waiting for this day in the Senate, for us to vote and pass this important stem cell research bill. I commend Senator Harkin for his perseverance in coming back and again pushing at this as one of the first pieces of legislation we consider in this Congress. We all know it has a ways to go. We know the President has said he might veto it. I hope he doesn't. I hope he sends a message to some young girl out there whose dad has just been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis that we are a country of hope once again.
I urge my colleagues to vote for S. 5. I look forward to its passage today, moving through conference. I hope it will be signed by the President.
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