Profession
House passes embryonic stem cell bill
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Feb. 12, 2007
Last month, the House of Representatives voted 253-174 to override restrictions on federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research that President Bush enacted more than six years ago.
Though more than three dozen Republicans joined Democrats in voting to allow federal funding for stem cell research using embryos that in vitro fertilization clinics otherwise would discard, the winning tally fell 37 votes shy of a veto-proof majority.
Research supporters expect the Senate to pass the bill soon, with Sen. Arlen Specter (R, Pa.) saying he expected 66 senators to vote for the bill.
The House and Senate bills are identical to the one President Bush vetoed in July 2006. On the heels of a Nature Biotechnology study in which Harvard and Wake Forest researchers said they were able to produce independent, pluripotent cell lines using amniotic stem cells, the White House said the science could advance without destroying more embryos.
Scientists argue that although amniotic stem cells appear promising, the embryonic stem cell research avenue should not be closed to federal funds.
As Bush promised another veto, congressional supporters of broader federal funding said they planned to force his hand on the matter.
"There is nothing wrong with this bill," Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D, Calif.), told The Washington Post. "We should pass this bill again and again and again and again, until we get a president who will sign it."
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2007/02/12/prbf0212.htm.
