A Senate health appropriations subcommittee hearing convened on Wednesday to hear arguments on proposed legislation to allow the National Institutes of Health to conduct embryonic stem cells research. The federal government forbids the funding of any medical research that uses fetal tissue.
The subcommittee was convened by Senator Arlan Spector (R-PA), who took the unusual step of urging the C-SPAN audience to write Congress in support of embryonic stem cell research.
The NIH has proposed guidelines that could get around the ban by insisting the research be done only on cells derived by private companies, currently conducting stem cell research, rather than from the actual embryos.
Alternatively proposed legislation would allow women to donate embryonic tissue to federally funded researchers.
This important research should also have public funding not only to increase the research and also so that federal standards will be employed for embryonic tissue research.
