I'm in this guy's column! Pls read how he has me telling off Frist

[rayilynlee <rayilynlee@xxxxxxx>]

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                        Article Launched: 07/25/2005 02:18:00 AM  

                  jim spencer
                  As stem-cell bill languishes, so do the ill and dying
                        By Jim Spencer
                        Denver Post Columnist  

                 
                 
                  Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette is not surprised that the U.S. 
Senate has yet to debate the stem- cell research bill she shepherded through 
the House of Representatives two months ago. 

                  She's disappointed. 

                  Disappointed but determined. 

                  Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist had said he would let the 
Senate version of DeGette's bill be discussed. 

                  It hasn't happened yet. 

                  The stalling tactics are so obvious that Pennsylvania Sen. 
Arlen Specter last week threatened to attach the stem-cell bill to an 
appropriations bill and get it a hearing. 

                  Once more, America lets politics and religion trump science. 

                  Once more, sick and dying people pay the price. 

                  "Bill Frist is running for president," DeGette said. "He's 
trying to cater to the far right," which considers embryonic stem-cell research 
abortion. 

                  Frist is also trying to protect George Bush from having to 
make good on a veto threat that will placate the flat- Earth forces in his 
conservative base. Such a presidential veto will alienate mainstream Americans 
who appreciate and rely on scientific research. 

                  "This is an issue that isn't going away," DeGette said. "It's 
an issue with growing public support." 

                  Incorporating stem-cell research into an unrelated, 
"must-pass" Senate bill is clearly a parliamentary maneuver. 

                  "That's essentially what we had to do in the House to get a 
hearing," DeGette said. "We told (the leadership) we'd attach the stem-cell 
bill to any moving piece of legislation." 

                  Instead, House leaders decided to let the bill rise or fall 
on its merits. 

                  It won in the House, and has an excellent chance of winning 
in the Senate, where Republicans such as Specter and Orrin Hatch of Utah 
support it. 

                  "I think it would pass if it came to a vote," DeGette 
predicted. "Close to 60 senators signed a letter to the president (calling for 
expanded stem-cell research)." 

                  Colorado Sen. Wayne Allard does not disclose his position on 
bills passed by the House but not yet introduced in the Senate, said Allard's 
spokeswoman, Angela DeRocha. 

                  In a statement released Friday, Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar had 
no problem taking a stand: "I will support the stem- cell research bill that is 
soon to be before the Senate so that we can finally move beyond the rhetoric 
dividing this issue to the hope-giving results of morally and ethically guided 
research." 

                  Polls show that most people in this country want more 
stem-cell research. That's because so many of them stand to benefit from it. An 
estimated 

                       
                       
                       
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                  100 million Americans are affected by or know someone with 
diseases, conditions and injuries that might be helped by stem-cell research. 
                  "Since the bill passed the House," DeGette said, "hundreds of 
people have thanked me. They say, 'My father has Parkinson's.' Or 'My brother 
has Lou Gehrig's disease.' Or 'I have family members with diabetes."' 

                  Spinal cord injuries, cancer - just about every patient can 
benefit. 

                  DeGette's bill needs a Senate hearing. It allows the federal 
government to pay researchers to study embryonic stem-cell lines created from 
embryos that will otherwise be thrown away by fertility clinics. Donors of 
those embryos must consent to this research. No one gets paid for the embryos. 

                  The flat-Earthers call this abortion. They argue that a sperm 
fertilized by an egg is a person. They argue that artificial insemination is 
wrong. They argue that frozen embryos should be stored indefinitely. And 
finally, they argue that if a choice must be made between discarding frozen 
embryos or letting them help cure diseases and ease the suffering of real human 
beings, it's more moral to throw the embryos away. 

                  That's not just narrow-minded; it's medieval. 

                  It's time for Bill Frist and other politicians to listen to 
people like Rayilyn Brown. 

                  A self-described "ovarian cancer survivor" and "Parkinson's 
disease prisoner," Brown asks only for enlightenment. 

                  "I am very disturbed by the confusion of scientific and 
religious truth," Brown said. "People seem more ignorant than ever, and I am 
one of those people who suffers because of religious agendas stifling stem-cell 
research. 

                  "I don't expect a cure in the U.S. in my lifetime, but the 
Dark Ages lasted a thousand years." 

                  Jim Spencer's column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He 
can be reached at 303-820-1771 or jspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
                 
                   

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