Bioethics Leader: Sen. Clinton Overstating Potential of ESCR
by Mary Rettig
July 25, 2006
(AgapePress) - - The president of the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity says Senator Hillary Clinton's comments following President Bush's veto of the recent embryonic stem cell bill are a bit misleading. For the first time since taking office in January 2001, President Bush last week exercised his veto privilege, denying passage of H.R. 810/S. 471, the "Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act." In vetoing the legislation, the president said if the bill would have become law, "American taxpayers would, for the first time in our history, be compelled to fund the deliberate destruction of human embryos -- and I'm not going to allow it." The U.S. House later failed to override the president's veto. (See earlier story)
The president was applauded by pro-life and pro-family leaders for standing his ground -- both in terms of following through on his promise to veto the bill, and continuing to oppose the destructive nature of embryonic stem-cell research (ESCR). One U.S. senator, however, is appealing to the public to push for full federal funding of the research.
New York's Hillary Clinton has posted on her website a form urging voters to take action to support ESCR. Clinton, up for re-election next year, says on the website that Congress made the right choice when it passed H.R. 810/S. 471. "This research shows virtually limitless potential to alleviate or even cure countless conditions and injuries affecting millions of Americans and their families," the form states, adding the comment that Bush's veto has "robbed those families of hope" and "could cost millions of lives."
Dr. Andrew Fergusson of the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity says the junior senator from the Empire State is guilty of hyperbole. "All the clinical benefits from stem-cell treatments are coming from the other category of stem cells, those which are not ethically controversial, so-called 'adult stem cells,'" he notes. "There are currently 72 different applications of adult stem-cell therapy to treat human diseases."
According to Fergusson, the title of the form on Clinton's website -- "Support Stem Cell Research" -- itself is misleading. He says the senator seems to be claiming that President Bush is blocking any type of stem-cell research from being done. That is certainly not the case, he says.
"The U.S. government is already directly supporting a huge amount of non-controversial adult stem-cell research," he notes. "And since President Bush permitted it in August 2001, there has been a limited form of research on human embryos. Some $90 million has been spent."
Fergusson says Senator Clinton's implied claim about the "virtually limitless potential" of ESCR is ill-informed because as of yet no treatments or cures for any diseases or injuries have been produced from that research. Honest scientists in that field, he points out, will even admit that such treatments are likely to at least a decade or two from being developed.
Mary Rettig, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
