Stem Cell Research
STEM CELL RESEARCH -- (Senate - June 28, 2006)
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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I would ask the Senators who are engaging in this colloquy, through the Chair--it is also curious to note that while we are taking this moral position against certain vaccinations against cervical cancer, if I am not mistaken, we are also financing Viagra products for some men through some of our same programs. A little hard to follow that logic.
But I would ask the Senator from Iowa or the Senator from New Jersey to make it clear on the embryonic stem cell situation: Were it not for President Bush's Executive order limiting Federal research with embryonic stem cells, we would be dramatically expanding research into diabetes, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Lou Gehrig's disease, spinal cord regeneration, and a multitude of areas where we clearly need breakthroughs in research?
Mr. HARKIN. Yes.
Mr. DURBIN. Is it not also a fact that the bill which passed the House of Representatives which has been sitting on the calendar in the Senate, our calendar of business, for 1 full year while people are suffering from these problems, is it not also true that in this bill, we are very clear: no human cloning. That is not a part of this, correct?
Mr. HARKIN. Right.
Mr. DURBIN. It includes ethical guidelines which will not allow the commercialization of these stem cells: you can't sell them, and you cannot direct them. You cannot say: The leftover embryonic stem cells from my wife and myself are going to go to my Uncle Charlie. You can't do that. So we have established strict ethical guidelines of commercialization, direction of the cells, no human cloning. Yet the bill has sat on the calendar for a year, despite the fact that the Republican majority leader of the Senate has promised us for a year he would call up the bill. For a year, people with these diseases have been waiting patiently.
Perhaps I can put my finger on the problem. I ask the Senator from Iowa, would we have a better chance calling the embryonic stem cell issue to the floor if we made it a constitutional amendment? It appears those are very popular. We just did two of those in the last few weeks.
If we could make this a constitutional amendment, would we have a better chance with the Republican majority?
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