Senator Santorum Applauds Senate Passage of Ethical Stem Cell Research Legislation

Senator Santorum Applauds Senate Passage of Ethical Stem Cell Research Legislation

Santorum Legislation Calls for Treating Disease, Protecting Life

July 18, 2006

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA), Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, today praised Senate passage of S. 2754, the Alternative Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapies Enhancement Act, and S. 3504, the Fetus Farming Prohibition Act. Both bills were introduced by Senator Santorum.

"I am extremely pleased that my colleagues in the Senate today voted in favor of scientific advancement, a commitment to treat disease, and a commitment to the value of all human life," said Senator Santorum. "I am proud to sponsor these two important bills, and I look forward to President Bush signing them into law later this week."

The Alternative Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapies Enhancement Act is intended to encourage the development of ethical sources of embryonic-like, or "pluripotent" stem cells without harming human embryos. Pluripotent stem cells are desirable as they are able to develop into most of the types of cells in the human body. This bill would promote the creation of pluripotent stem cell lines from alternative sources that do not require the creation of human embryos for research purposes or discarding, destroying, or knowingly harming a human embryo or fetus.

The Fetus Farming Prohibition Act provides a safeguard on research practices. This bill amends the current law regulating fetal tissue research to prohibit the implantation of an embryo into a woman's uterus or an animal uterus in order to grow the embryo or fetus to a later stage of development before destroying the fetus for research purposes. This bill simply ensures that we don't cross the line of implanting embryos and growing them in a purely utilitarian way should these cells ever become desirable for research.

The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act (H.R. 810), a bill to expand federal research funding to human embryonic stem cell lines regardless of when they were derived, also passed the Senate today. Senator Santorum voted against H.R. 810.

"I strongly oppose H.R. 810 because I do not believe taxpayer dollars should support research that requires the destruction of human life," said Senator Santorum. "While I am disappointed that this bill passed, I am confident that President Bush will veto this bill. I believe that it is possible to make scientific progress and progress toward treating disease while respecting the objections of those, like myself, who do not believe that more federal dollars should go to support embryo-destructive research."

http://santorum.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressOffice.View&ContentRecord_id=1934&Region_id=0&Issue_id=0