Sen. Coleman Crafting Seventh Embryonic Stem Cell Research-Related Bill; Other Stem Cell Bills Likely Delayed

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 26 Jul 2005 - 5:00 PDT

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Senator Norm Coleman (R-Minn) is working to introduce a seventh piece of legislation relating to embryonic stem cell research and human cloning that the Senate could consider this week before the August recess,... Roll Call reports. Although a Coleman aide declined to give specifics on what might be included in the possible legislation, the fact that alternative stem cell measures are still being crafted makes it increasingly unlikely that the Senate will take action on any of the pieces of stem cell legislation, according to Roll Call (Pierce, Roll Call, 7/25). The House in May approved the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005 (HR 810/S 471), which would allow research using stem cells derived from embryos originally created for fertility treatments and willingly donated by patients, but President Bush has threatened to veto the bill. Frist is promoting alternative legislation (HR 3144) that would promote new, unproven techniques that might allow scientists to retrieve embryonic stem cells without creating or destroying embryos as a compromise measure between Bush's current policy -- which allows research only on embryonic stem cell lines created on or before Aug. 9, 2001 -- and the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 7/13). The Senate also will consider the following Republican-sponsored measures: a bill (S 1317) that would encourage research using stem cells extracted from umbilical cord blood and bone marrow, legislation that would expand human embryonic stem cell research but ban the creation of new stem cell lines for this purpose, a measure (S 658) that would ban all human cloning and embryonic stem cell research and a bill (S 659) that would ban the creation of organisms created by introducing non-human cells into human embryos (Roll Call, 7/25).

Passage Unlikely
Frist spokesperson Amy Call said the senator has "worked tirelessly over the past few weeks" to reach an agreement to bring HR 810 to a vote and will try to reach an agreement on the bills this week (Stolberg, New York Times, 7/23). However, Jim Manley, spokesperson for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), said Reid's office has not seen the language of all of the bills that Senate Republicans are proposing. "It's awfully hard for us to agree to a unanimous consent agreement when we haven't seen bill language for at least one of the bills being discussed," Manley said (Roll Call, 7/25). In addition, Rep. Michael Castle (R-Del.), who sponsored HR 810, said if any of the Senate bills are approved, they are unlikely to be approved in the House (New York Times, 7/23).

U.S. Catholic Opposition to Embryonic Stem Cell Research Examined
Religion News Service on Saturday examined the "two-pronged battle" that U.S. Catholic leaders face in convincing Catholics to oppose human embryonic stem cell research, Religion News/Washington Post reports. Church leaders face public opinion that generally favors the research as well as a stereotype that "religion is out to destroy science," Richard Doerflinger, the U.S. Catholic bishops' spokesperson for bioethics, said (Eckstrom, Religion News/Washington Post, 7/23).

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