Save them Little Zygotes

Two Bills concentrating on Stem Cell Research are heading into the house today. Godspeed, little Bills.

WASHINGTON - Two bills that would loosen restrictions on federal funding for stem cell research take center stage Tuesday in the House, with disease victims pleading for help and President Bush vowing to veto legislation he says would let science destroy life to save life.

"This is not an easy vote for many Republicans ... and some Democrats, too, because you have pro-life and other arguments," said the sponsor of the more controversial bill, Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del. "There's a lot of tide against them voting for it."

No, there isn't. There is a minority group of religious zealots against them voting for it. But that group has deep pockets. Let's call a spade a spade. And what "other arguments" are there? Seriously? The only argument I've ever heard against Stem Cell research is "save the bebbehs." And as Digby showed us yesterday, the whole Save Lives argument is rather skewed. (Notice they've dropped that ridiculous "human cloning" angle.)

The debate is opening with emotional appeals from survivors of disease who credit stem cell science with saving their lives. The discussion will close before the vote with a message from Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas. Known for enforcing discipline on Republican ranks, Delay — like Bush — is opposed to the bill by Castle and Diana DeGette, D-Colo.

The Castle-DeGette bill would lift Bush's 2001 ban on new federally funded research on embryonic stem cells, a process that requires the destruction of human embryos.

Another bill sponsored by Reps. Chris Smith, R-N.J., and Artur Davis, D-Ala., has wide bipartisan support and backing from Bush. It would provide $79 million in federal money to increase the amount of umbilical cord blood for stem cell research and treatment and establish a national database for patients looking for matches.

Many lawmakers said they planned to vote for both stem cell research bills Tuesday.

Decrying science that destroys life to prolong other life, Bush last week promised to veto the Castle-DeGette bill, and some lawmakers were taking note.

The sponsors, who have been counting votes for weeks, predicted the bill would garner the 218 votes needed for passage but fall short of the 290 votes needed to sustain a veto.

The votes of about 20 members of both parties still were up for grabs, Castle said.

Driving the debate over these bills is deep emotion behind the promise — disputed in some camps — that stem cell research could provide treatment and perhaps cures for diseases as diverse as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and childhood diabetes.

Leading up to the floor action, supporters and opponents of the legislation gathered people with personal experience with stem cell research to tell their stories.

"As you consider the funding options for stem cell research, please remember me," Keone Penn, 18, said at a Capitol Hill news conference. He said he had been stricken with childhood sickle cell anemia and cured after a transplant from umbilical cord blood.

Penn, of Atlanta, said sickle cell anemia caused a stroke when he was 5. Treatment for the disease was so painful that he said he contemplated suicide four years later. Doctors predicted he would not live to adulthood, but because of the transplant, he turns 19 in two weeks.

"If it wasn't for cord blood, I'd probably be dead by now," he said.

Also appearing on Capitol Hill and with Bush at the White House were the parents of babies "adopted" as embryos. They object to the Castle-DeGette bill's premise that embryonic stem cell research makes use of fertilized eggs that would otherwise be discarded.

Blood saved from newborns' umbilical cords is rich in a type of stem cells that produce blood, the same kind that make up bone-marrow transplants. The
Institute of Medicine recently estimated that cord blood could help treat about 11,700 Americans a year with leukemia and other devastating diseases, yet most is routinely discarded.

Castle and DeGette said they expect their bill to soon be considered by the Senate. If it passes both chambers, they said, perhaps the White House would reconsider its opposition. Either way, Castle said, the discussion has inspired "a lot more interest in this issue."

The Castle-DeGette bill deals with embryonic stem cells, which are the building blocks for every tissue in the body. Attempting to harness those stem cells' regenerative powers is in very early research stages, but many scientists believe it has the potential to one day create breakthrough treatments.

Bush has not issued one veto in his entire "career" as President. If he vetos these bills, it will say volumes about him as a President, and as a human being.

I have serious doubts that Bush's stance on Stem Cell Research has anything to do with his beliefs, regardless of his "born again" status. (I think Bush's church attendance speaks for itself.) This is about courting the Catholic vote, as shown here. It is absurd that the beliefs of a minority group of religious radicals should affect the lives of so many. You simply cannot condemn thousands of people to death or a life of pain and disease for votes. If killing these Bills is simply for vote payback and insurance, the soul of our country is truly dead.

Now is the time for Bush to act truly Presidential. Voting for these bills would take baby steps towards repairing our damaged reputation in the eyes of the rest of the world. We could prove that once again, America will be the leader in scientific research and breakthroughs. Or, gasp! we could work with the South Koreans on the research that they have already done. We could move forward at a faster pace, and come ever closer to the possible medical breakthroughs that so many need so badly.

Now is the time. Please... for once... do the right thing.

(My bologna has a first name, it's C-R-O-S-S-P-O-S-T)