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stumbler
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By Nancy Frazier O’Brien
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) – Rejecting the advice of Catholic leaders and the threat of a veto by President George W. Bush, the House approved legislation May 24 to lift the president’s restrictions on federal funding of stem-cell research involving the destruction of human embryos.
But immediately after its 238-194 vote in favor of the Stem-Cell Research Enhancement Act, the House gave nearly unanimous approval to a bill promoting increased stem-cell research using umbilical cord blood, an area that Cardinal William H. Keeler of Baltimore called “indisputably acceptable on moral grounds and remarkably promising in terms of clinical benefits.”
The cardinal, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said in a letter to House members before the votes that, unlike the “false expectations” raised by embryonic stem-cell research, studies using umbilical cord blood retrieved immediately after live births had already shown results in treating more than 60 diseases.
“What is preventing far broader use of umbilical cord blood is not an ethical concern, or any lack of evidence of clinical benefits, but simply a lack of funding and access,” Cardinal Keeler added. “By helping to establish a nationwide public cord blood bank, this legislation will begin saving more lives almost immediately.”
Bush has vowed to veto the Stem-Cell Research Enhancement Act, which he said crosses “a critical ethical line by creating new incentives for the ongoing destruction of emerging human life.” It would be his first veto in more than five years in office. . . .
Full article
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) – Rejecting the advice of Catholic leaders and the threat of a veto by President George W. Bush, the House approved legislation May 24 to lift the president’s restrictions on federal funding of stem-cell research involving the destruction of human embryos.
But immediately after its 238-194 vote in favor of the Stem-Cell Research Enhancement Act, the House gave nearly unanimous approval to a bill promoting increased stem-cell research using umbilical cord blood, an area that Cardinal William H. Keeler of Baltimore called “indisputably acceptable on moral grounds and remarkably promising in terms of clinical benefits.”
The cardinal, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said in a letter to House members before the votes that, unlike the “false expectations” raised by embryonic stem-cell research, studies using umbilical cord blood retrieved immediately after live births had already shown results in treating more than 60 diseases.
“What is preventing far broader use of umbilical cord blood is not an ethical concern, or any lack of evidence of clinical benefits, but simply a lack of funding and access,” Cardinal Keeler added. “By helping to establish a nationwide public cord blood bank, this legislation will begin saving more lives almost immediately.”
Bush has vowed to veto the Stem-Cell Research Enhancement Act, which he said crosses “a critical ethical line by creating new incentives for the ongoing destruction of emerging human life.” It would be his first veto in more than five years in office. . . .
Full article