Bills Renew Fight On Stem Cells -- 160 cosponsors

[Coastie for Truth]

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30588-2005Feb16.html

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Congressional supporters of human embryonic stem cell research launched their most intensive effort to expand federal funding for the controversial field, introducing identical bills yesterday in the Senate and House that would loosen research restrictions President Bush imposed in 2001.

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The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005 represents the second major push in as many years to change the federal rules. Embryonic stem cells appear capable of rebuilding ailing organs but are mired in controversy because 5-day-old human embryos must be destroyed to retrieve them.

The new bill would allow federally funded researchers to derive fresh colonies of stem cells from spare embryos that are about to be discarded by fertility clinics, if parents agree to offer them for research. It would not allow taxpayer money to be used to create embryos by cloning or other means -- practices far more politically divisive than using spare embryos.

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Hill watchers said it is still too early to say whether that stalemate will be broken this year. With Republicans having won several new seats in November, advocates of greater restrictions -- led by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) -- have expressed optimism that they may prevail. A spokesman for Brownback said only that the senator is still studying the language.

Research advocates say they, too, feel more energized than ever. With California and a handful of other states moving to finance embryonic cell research on their own and a new public opinion poll on Tuesday suggesting that at least three-quarters of Americans support the research, lawmakers and others said yesterday that they believe the tide is turning in their favor.

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Link to New York Times version: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/politics/politics-congress-stemcells.html?