The Nation: Frist vs Science

[deadparrot]

The Nation -- Last May the Republican-dominated House of Representatives voted to loosen President Bush's limits on embryonic stem cell research, allowing scientists to study cells derived from soon-to-be discarded embryos at fertility clinics. Senate Democrats and moderate Republicans could pass similar legislation as soon as this week. Conservatives realize they're opposing a popular policy that could be used against them as a wedge issue in midterm elections next year and in 2008. So Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has devised an alternative that undermines science while scoring political points.

In 2001, Frist came out in support of embryonic research, calling the science "a promising and important line of inquiry." But a month later, under pressure from Christian conservatives, President Bush limited federal funding to already-existing stem cell lines, which are few in number and often already contaminated. Frist quickly fell in line.

Now his so-called alternative would bypass "ethical constraints" by obtaining stem cells without destroying embryos. Only this method remains entirely unproven and has yet to appear in a major scientific medical journal or clear the peer review process. Even scientists exploring this approach call the choice between supporting the bipartisan legislation co-sponsored by Tom Harkin and Arlen Specter and Frist's alternative "a no-brainer."

"We need to pass" the Harkin-Specter bill, Robert Lanza, vice president of medical and scientific research for Advanced Cell Technology, told the Senate. "I do not think we should keep the scientific community or the patient community waiting."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/137030