The Beginning of Human Life: Congress Closer to Stem Cell Vote

Jack Sisson's The Beginning of Human Life Blog

Many people believe human life begins at conception. Others acknowledge life at conception, but differ about when that life becomes human (versus an indistinguishable mass of cells). We hope to both start and then further dialogue regarding the beginning of human life. We have been preparing for this discussion since 1986.

Although Florida seems determined not to fund embryonic stem cell research (for this year at least), things are looking up on the national level. From an "Orlando Sentinel" editorial:

As the U.S. Senate again considers a bill to ease President George W. Bush's restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research, members would be wise to heed one of Mr. Bush's appointees. National Institutes of Health Director Elias Zerhouni recently told a Senate panel that "American science will be better served, and the nation will be better served, if we let our scientists have access to more stem-cell lines."

Mr. Bush's restrictions limit federal funding to research on embryonic stem-cell lines that existed before Aug. 9, 2001. The number of those lines available for research has fallen since then from 78 to 22, and their scientific value is limited.

Stem cells can be derived from adult sources, but many scientists believe the ones from embryos offer the best hope over the long term for treating or curing paralyzing injuries or devastating diseases such as Alzheimer's and diabetes.

Read the complete article.

Labels: congress, embryo, embryonic stem cell, George W. Bush