Statement by U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein
- On the Split Vote by the President's Bioethics Council
on Nuclear Transplantation Stem Cell Research -
July 11, 2002

"The President's Council on Bioethics issued a report today that rightly condemns human reproductive cloning. Significantly, the President's hand-picked Council did not support efforts by the President and others - including a bill by Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) - to ban critically important stem cell research that offers such hope to millions of Americans with incurable diseases.

While I am pleased that the Council declined to endorse the Brownback bill, I am disappointed that in a split vote it endorsed a moratorium. Such a moratorium is totally unnecessary. It would also lead to needless early and painful deaths and cause the exodus of excellent scientists and scarce research dollars overseas. Most importantly, to those who are faced with catastrophic health and disease problems, it presents a needless and to a great extent, irreversible delay.

The scientific, medical, and patients' advocacy community agree. Today, the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research, representing a coalition of patient groups, scientists, and research universities, is releasing a petition against a moratorium signed by 2,000 teachers and scientists. Signers come from all 50 states and include seven Nobel Laureates.

It is also significant to note that seven members of the Council disagreed with the proposal for a moratorium and urged the continuation of this form of stem cell research.

The legislation I have sponsored with Senators Arlen Specter (R-Penn.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and others does just that - bans human reproductive cloning with strong criminal penalties for violators and allows stem cell research to continue under strict regulatory and ethical guidelines.

I am pleased the seven Presidential appointees support this approach. They are not alone. Many of our leading scientists, including 40 Nobel Prize winners, have said that nuclear transplantation research offers a promise of saving millions of lives and relieving the suffering of countless others. That is why virtually every leading scientific, medical, and patients' advocacy group that has taken a position supporting stem cell research."

###