Stem cells research, 2005 : hearing before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate, One Hundred Ninth Congress, first session, special hearing, October 19, 2005, Washington, DC.
- United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee on Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
- Date:
- 2006
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Stem cells research, 2005 : hearing before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate, One Hundred Ninth Congress, first session, special hearing, October 19, 2005, Washington, DC. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![to excuse myself at about 10:00, but I will have an opportunity be- fore that occurs to hear all of the witnesses. Now I would like to yield to my distinguished ranking member, Senator Harkin. Senator HARKIN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Senator Landrieu I know has to leave right away. If I could just yield a cou- ple minutes for her of my time, I would appreciate it. Senator SPECTER. Well, I was about to yield a couple minutes to Senator Cochran, but since you spoke first, Senator Landrieu. STATEMENT OF SENATOR MARY L. LANDRIEU Senator LANDRIEU. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank Senator Harkin just for one moment because I have got to leave for another meeting. It is a very busy day, as the chairman said. Let me thank the chairman and Senator Harkin for their pursuit of a solution to this dilemma and to this great challenge. I have a slightly different view that I will submit for the record in written testimony. For this morning, I will just say that as we pursue cures for the many diseases that challenge us and while I understand that em- bryonic stem cells hold promise for curing diseases, as the chair- man and many others have pointed out, I think that we have to be very mindful of what many of our ethical leaders have said and the Catholic bishops in particular that it is important in the pur- suit of progress to not undermine human dignity. And there is a line that can be drawn between progress and human dignity, and creating embryonic stem cells for the purpose of creating human beings for the purposes of destroying them for science crosses that line in my opinion. PREPARED STATEMENT I will submit more to the record, but I understand that this will be a continued debate, and I thank the Senator for allowing me to express my views. Senator SPECTER. Thank you, Senator Landrieu. [The statement follows:] PREPARED STATEMENT OF SENATOR MARY L. LANDRIEU Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have had the privilege of serving as a member of this subcommittee for four years now. I think it is important to note that one of the very first hearings I attended was on this very issue. A lot has changed since then—both in the ethical debate and in the science. But what have not changed are the moral parameters that must guide us in these decisions. As Richard Doerflinger of the Catholic Conference of Bishops put it—“We must be careful not to undermine human dignity in the pursuit of human progress.” Since that hearing four years ago, in August of 2001, the President issued an ex- ecutive order, allowing for federal funding for stem cell research on the then exist- ing stem cell lines. In November of that same year, he appointed a council to mon- itor stem cell research, to recommend appropriate guidelines and regulations, and to consider all of the medical and ethical ramifications of biomedical innovation. To date, this council has issued six hundred plus page reports on the bioethics issues involved in stem cell research. Meanwhile, the scientific community has moved for- ward in its advancements in knowledge and discovery. And everyday we, as mem- bers of Congress are faced with the questions of how far we should go in the name of science. There is no doubt that embryonic stem cell research holds the promise of curing diseases such as Parkinson’s, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and cancer. Even President Bush stressed the importance of federally funded research in approving the original](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b32229392_0006.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
