House of Representatives - May 12, 2005

Bait and switch on stem cells

Mr. Speaker, 

In the coming weeks, some will say that they only want to use Federal funds to destroy human embryos stored in IVF clinics for stem cell research. 

This is a skilled use of the bait-and-switch tactic.

First, these embryos are not primed for research; they are primed for adoption. 

Eighty-one embryos have been adopted today with dozens more on the way, called "snowflake adoptions."

Researchers who support embryonic stem cell research acknowledge that these IVF embryos will not provide near the desired type or number of stem cell lines demanded by the biotech industry and admit that they will not be genetically diverse. 

In order to get that sample and overcome that rejection, they will need to clone human embryos. 

Advocates have admitted as much on this floor in the Chamber.

The ultimate goal of researchers is free and unfettered access to Federal dollars to create, clone and destroy human embryos for lab experiments. 

Congress should instead focus on supporting adult stem cell research, which has been proven to work successfully, is not morally controversial, and holds true promise for disease victims. 

We should not kill to harvest an experiment.