Floor Statement of Senator Carl Levin on Stem Cell Research

We stand at the threshold of a new era of medical discovery. We can already glimpse the dramatic life-giving advances in regenerative medicine that lie ahead. But we will remain mired down at this point – with breakthroughs always on the horizon and never within our reach – unless we change the President’s policy on stem cell research.

Embryonic stem cell research could hold the key to curing diseases that no other research could cure. As best we know now, an embryonic stem cell is unique in nature: it alone can develop into any other type of cell in the body. An embryonic stem cell – and an embryonic stem cell alone – can become a nerve cell, a muscle cell, or any of more than 200 types of cells in the body. The research into directing the creation and use of these cells may be extraordinarily difficult, but it’s easy to understand how creating healthy cells that could replace diseased cells could save an untold number of lives.

A clear example of the possibilities of stem cell research is the hope it offers for those suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s disease is a motor system disorder that results from a loss of brain cells that produce dopamine. Individuals with Parkinson’s disease often experience a trembling in the hands, arms or face and impaired balance and coordination. As the disease develops, it can become difficult to walk, talk, and complete other basic tasks. With research, scientists may be able to coax embryonic stem cells into becoming healthy neurons that produce the desperately-needed dopamine. And if those neurons can be successfully transplanted into a patient with Parkinson’s disease, that person could be cured.

The list of other diseases ripe for research is long. Lou Gehrig's Disease is a progressive neuromuscular disease characterized by a degeneration of the nerve cells of the brain and spinal cord. Juvenile diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks the pancreas, destroying insulin-producing cells. Alzheimer’s disease is a form of dementia that afflicts the part of the brain that controls memory, language, and thought. Spinal cord injuries interrupt the sensory pathway between the brain and the rest of the body.

Now imagine if embryonic stem cell research could provide replacements for the nerve cells ravaged by Lou Gehrig’s Disease; for the insulin-producing cells destroyed by diabetes; for the brain cells washed away by Alzheimer’s; for the neural pathway severed by spinal cord injuries. Stem cell research could offer the millions of Americans suffering from these and other diseases not just hope but cures. It could give them and their families – who are often physically, financially, and emotionally exhausted – their lives back.

Many technical hurdles stand in the way of that day, and these discoveries won’t be easy. But it is wrong to throw additional and unnecessary obstacles in front of our doctors, researchers and scientists. That is precisely, however, what the President’s policy has done.

On August 21, 2001, President Bush issued an executive order that the federal government would only fund embryonic stem cell research on stem cell lines created before that date. “Stem cell line” is the name given to constantly-dividing cells that continue to be derived from a single embryo. Most independent experts estimated at the time of the President’s executive order that only 80 stem cell lines – a totally inadequate amount – would be available for federal research. Even worse, most of those 80 lines were later determined to be polluted and unusable, leaving only about 20 stem cell lines actually available to scientists. That number is far, far too small to tap the vast potential of this research.

The President did not question the legitimacy of the science being used in stem cell research but the ethics of using embryos, scientifically known as blastocysts until implanted through in-vitro fertilization. A blastocyst consists of around 150 cells, which is smaller than the point of a pin. While the blastocyst is destroyed during the process of extracting embryonic stem cells, the key fact is that any that are used for stem cell research would have been destroyed anyway. That’s a fact that opponents refuse to deal with. These blastocysts are created by in-vitro fertilization clinics, and for a variety of reasons will not be used for implantation and will therefore eventually be discarded.

Last month, the Detroit News editorialized against a Michigan law restricting embryonic stem cell research and used words that apply equally well to the President’s policy. The News wrote: “The justification for this law is to protect human embryos, but the fact that fertility clinics can simply discard them means that the research ban is pointless.” The logic of some embryonic stem cell research opponents is totally befuddling. They are apparently willing to ignore the discarding of embryos by fertility clinics, but they label as morally objectionable the life-giving use of embryos which would otherwise be discarded.

I believe that embryonic stem cell research is truly a life-giving, not a life-destroying, process because of the extraordinary potential for healing living, breathing human beings who have names, faces, and loved ones.

While the President is fighting against research in America, other countries are pressing ahead. America has always been at the forefront of scientific innovation, and we could do this research faster, more efficiently, and more ethically than most other countries. We also have an obligation to speed its potential benefits to the American people and to people around the world. The President’s policy, however, has stifled public-private partnerships and has hindered our potential impact in this area. Today, other countries are poised to reap the life-giving rewards of stem cell research while we fall further behind.

Over a year ago, the House took a significant step toward overcoming Presidential opposition by passing the Stem Cell Research and Enhancement Act, H.R.810, which would remove the President’s arbitrary prohibition against using stem cells created after August 21, 2001. That’s another fact that opponents refuse to deal with: the President’s date of August 21, 2001 is breathtakingly illogical. How can the President argue that it’s OK to use embryos created before that date for research – even though in his view it was the taking of a life – but that after that date it is unethical to do so?

H.R.810 would pave the way for hundreds or thousands of additional stem cell lines to be made available. It is bipartisan legislation, and it passed overwhelmingly in the House. Shortly after the House made that strong statement in favor of exploring the medical potential of embryonic stem cell research, the Senate Majority Leader committed to bringing that bill up for floor consideration. Senator Frist understands how great the life-enhancing possibilities are, and he has chosen to side with his fellow physicians and with the future in supporting this research.

This bill has the strong support of the American Medical Association, the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research, the Association of American Universities, the Christopher Reeve Foundation, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the Parkinson’s Action Network, and more than 200 additional organizations. And, more importantly, it has the overwhelming support of the American people. If the President vetoes this bill, I hope we will resoundingly override that veto.

As part of the unanimous consent agreement to consider this legislation, we are considering two additional bills as well. The bill put forward by Senators Santorum and Specter would emphasize the use of adult stem cells instead of embryonic stem cells. Adult stem cells may have some potential, but they do not have the critically essential ability of the embryonic stem cell to become any other type of cell.

Dr. Sean Morrison, the director of the University of Michigan’s Center for Stem Cell Biology and one of the top stem cell researchers in the country, wrote recently in the Detroit Free Press about another alternative to embryonic stem cells being touted – adult stem cells from umbilical cords. Dr. Morrison wrote: “Umbilical cord cells are used clinically only to replace blood-forming cells. There is no compelling evidence that these cells could ever be used to replace cells in other tissues. These cells are not an alternative to embryonic stem cells, which can replace any cell type in the body….That is why there is near universal agreement among respected scientists and patient advocacy groups that current restrictions [against embryonic stem cell research] should be relaxed.”

Mr. President, we may be on the cusp of one of the greatest miracles in the history of medicine. The door of possibility is ajar, inviting us to enter. But we cannot make these great strides if our researchers continue to be hampered by President Bush’s overly restrictive policy. We owe it to everyone suffering from – or who may in the future be afflicted by – these dreaded diseases to move boldly toward a brighter future.