Posted on 12/11/2004 5:02:34 AM PST by Theodore R.
Stem cell plan urged by senator
DALLAS (AP) — Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said Friday that state leaders should work with Gov. Rick Perry and the Legislature to develop a stem-cell research policy that keeps Texas from being "left in the dust by California."
Hutchison, a potential 2006 Republican primary challenger to Perry, referred to a landmark $3 billion initiative to fund stem-cell research passed by California voters in November.
The senator, who said again Friday that she has not decided whether to run for governor, made her comments as she addressed University of Texas regents and medical college presidents at a health issues retreat.
Hutchison said the research could help cure cancer, Alzheimer's and Hodgkin's disease.
"I think that Texas needs to have a responsible, ethical policy regarding stem-cell research," she said after the meeting. "I think if we are going to stay in the forefront of scientific discoveries, we are going to have to find an ethical way to keep the state-of-the-art experiments on stem cells and how they can displace unhealthy cells in people's bodies."
Robert Black, a Perry spokesman, said the governor will soon announce an aggressive technology research initiative "that will give Texas a significant competitive advantage in the emerging technologies field, and that includes biomedical technology."
"Unlike Senator Hutchison, who supports embryonic stem cell research, Governor Perry supports President Bush's position that we must strike a balance between science and the protection of life," Black said.
Bush signed an executive order in 2001 limiting federal research money to embryonic stem-cell lines then in existence, to ensure the government does not support future production of embryos for research. He has placed no controls on private embryonic stem-cell research.
"My position is, we need to find a way to expand our capacity," Hutchison said. "The lines of stem cells that we had hoped would be available have not become readily available to our medical schools. So we've got to find a way to expand that capacity and make sure that we have strict regulations against the ability to clone a human being or create a human being."
Medical officials in Texas have voiced concern about scientists leaving for California, given the generous research opportunities that state will now be able to offer.
UT-Houston President James Willerson promised this month to work to find state funding for stem-cell research, particularly for noncontroversial sources.
Researchers extract most of their experimental stem cells from fertilized human eggs, most of which are now donated by fertility clinics. But scientists say they need to find or create other supply sources to broaden their research, including using cloning techniques to create stem cell sources.
Stem cells are formed in the first days after fertilization and they are the building blocks of the human body. Researchers hope to harness that biological power to create "cells in a bottle" to cure and treat a wide range of ailments from diabetes to spinal cord injuries.
But conservative Christians and others oppose the research as immoral because days-old embryos are destroyed in the lab.
Stacey Emick, legislative director for the anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life, said the state could ethically pursue stem-cell research funding by focusing on umbilical cord blood and adult bone marrow.
"It's not an all-or-nothing plan," Emick said, criticizing the approach taken by California. "We don't have to fund all types of stem-cell research to be successful."
The Texas Medical Association, the country's largest state physician organization with more than 39,000 members, adopted a resolution in June supporting embryonic and adult stem-cell research.
Hutchison said "there are embryos in place today that are going to be thrown away ... where people have frozen them and they're no longer going to use them. I don't want to see something in place be destroyed that could be used for useful purposes."
She said she had not discussed the issue with Perry, just because it hasn't come up in conversation.
"It's one of many issues that the Legislature will be facing," she said. "I just wanted to say that it's one that I think ought to be included when we're talking about research."
While she's at it, she can support a ... MONORAIL!
[Lyle Lanley] Well sir, there's nothin' on earth like a genuine, bonafide, electrified, six-car monorail!
What'd I say?
[Ned Flanders] Monorail!
[Lyle] What's it called?
[Patty & Selma] Monorail
[Lyle] That's right, monorail!
[All chant] Monorail, monorail, monorail...
[Ms Hoover] I hear those things are awfully loud
[Lyle] It glides as softly as a cloud
[Apu] Is there a chance the track could bend?
[Lyle] Not on your life, my Hindu friend
[Barney] What about us braindead slobs?
[Lyle] You'll be given cushy jobs
[Grampa] Were you sent here by the devil?
[Lyle] No, good sir, I'm on the level
[Chief Wiggum] The ring came off my pudding can
[Lyle] Take my pen knife, my good man
I swear it's Springfield's only choice
Throw up your hands and raise your voice!
Monorail!
What's it called?
Monorail!
Once again!
Monorail!
[Marge] But Main Street's still all cracked and broken
[Bart] Sorry, mom, the mob has spoken
[All] Monorail! Monorail!
Monorail!
Monorail!
[Homer] Mono- d'oh!
Hutchison said the research could help cure cancer, Alzheimer's and Hodgkin's disease.
PS - Thanks for reminding me why I don't like you, Kay Bailey Opportunist.
Is it just me or is this hardest I have seen incumbents work to not get elected in this state.
I can't understand how such a conservative state has such RINO representation. I really dislike this ugly witch.
Especially when embryonic stem cells have shown absolutely no potential in curing anything at all.
The popular KBH became the Republican candidate for the Senate in 1993, when two prolife congressmen divided the prolife vote. Then she has since defeated three liberal opponents in special or general elections with ease. In 2000, she became the Republican candidate to have polled the greatest statewide percent in TX history. People in TX seem to like her, but they really don't know her record on some important issues.
It does seem that in a three-way Republican gubernatorial primary in 2006 among KBH, Governor Perry, and Comptroller Strayhorn, conservatives should seek a fourth candidate. I don't see how I could vote for ANY of this trio.
The unemployed RAT Charles Stenholm (whose pro-life) could attract support from religious right should he decide run for Governor. Why he didn't follow Ralph Hall's example and quit the RAT party is a mystery.
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