Sen. Brownback Calls for Limiting Number of Embryos Created During IVF To Reduce Number of Unused Embryos, USA

Main Category: Fertility
Article Date: 01 Jun 2005 - 9:00 PDT

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Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan) on Sunday while on... ABC's "This Week" called for limits on the number of embryos created for in vitro fertilization treatments in an effort to reduce the number of embryos that end up not being implanted, the Washington Times reports (Pierce, Washington Times, 5/30). During IVF treatments in the United States, as many as 12 embryos are created, but often all of the embryos are not implanted in the woman's uterus, thus creating a "dilemma" about what to do with the unused embryos, according to AFP/Yahoo! News. "In a number of countries, they limit the number of these in vitro fertilizations from outside the womb," Brownback said, adding, "They say you can do this, but you have to do these one or two at a time, so that they're implanted in that basis. That's a way that you can look at that, instead of going on this massive scale of what we've done here" (AFP/Yahoo! News, 5/29).

Embryonic Stem Cell Research
Proponents of embryonic stem cell research have suggested that unused embryos be used in the research, which some scientists believe could lead to treatments or cures for several diseases, including Alzheimer's and type 1 diabetes, the New York Daily News reports (Shin, New York Daily News, 5/29). The House earlier this month approved a bill (HR 810) that would loosen restrictions on federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research. The current embryonic stem cell research policy allows federal funding for the research only when the cells are extracted from stem cell lines created on or before Aug. 9, 2001, the date that President Bush announced the policy. However, critics of Bush's policy have said that the available stem cell lines are not biologically diverse, are contaminated with nonhuman material and are useless for research into possible cures for degenerative diseases. The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005, which is sponsored by Rep. Michael Castle (R-Del.) and has nearly 200 co-sponsors, would expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and allow research using stem cells derived from embryos originally created for fertility treatments and willingly donated by patients. The bill would not allow federal funding for embryonic stem cell research on stem cell lines or embryos created expressly for research purposes. The Senate is expected to take up a similar bill, and it is likely to pass. Bush has threatened to veto the measure (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 5/25).

Specter, Brownback Comments
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) on Sunday -- also speaking on "This Week" -- said there are several senators who are "passionate" about embryonic stem cell research and will seek to override Bush's promised veto, which would be the first of his presidency, according to the New York Post. "We have 58 senators who signed a letter to the president recently, and there are 20 more in the wings who didn't want to put their name on the letter who I think would vote to override a veto," Specter said. Brownback said he will look for ways to prevent the measure from being given a vote on the Senate floor, according to the Post. "I've been taught a lot of lessons from the Democrats lately, so I've got some ideas on how one can get this done," Brownback said (Bishop, New York Post, 5/30).

Embryo Adoption
Rather than using unused embryos for stem cell research, some Catholics and evangelical Protestants have urged married couples to "adopt" unused embryos from fertility clinics to assure that the embryos are not destroyed, the Washington Post reports. However, some Catholics believe that embryo adoption -- like all artificial reproductive technology -- is a "grave violation of the principle that procreation should occur naturally," according to the Post. If Pope Benedict XVI speaks out against embryo adoption, as some doctrinal conservatives expect, it could create a rift between Catholics and evangelical Protestants over the issue, according to the Post. As of May 2003, approximately 400,000 unused frozen embryos were being stored at U.S. fertility clinics. About 88% of those embryos were reserved for future use by couples, 3% had been donated for medical research and about 2% -- or about 9,000 embryos -- were available to be used by other couples, according to Sean Tipton, director of public affairs at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, which collected the data. Although the number of embryos successfully donated to other couples is unknown, Tipton said the number is probably small, the Post reports (Cooperman, Washington Post, 5/31).

A video excerpt of the "This Week" segment is available online in RealPlayer.

Other Broadcast Coverage
Several broadcast programs reported on the debate over federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research. Some of them are summarized below:

• NPR's "All Things Considered": The segment reports on the possibility of Bush's veto of legislation that would expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research (Gonyea, "All Things Considered," NPR, 5/27). The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer.
  


• NPR's "All Things Considered": The segment includes comments from Castle and Reps. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.), Lane Evans (D-Ill.) and Mike Pence (R-Ind.) (Rovner, "All Things Considered," NPR, 5/28). The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer.
  

"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork.org kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/repro The Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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