With New Science, Embyonic Research Is Obsolete (Rep. Michael Burgess)

The speed of scientific investigation exceeds that of the legislative process. Medical research, especially in the field of regenerative medicine, holds great promise. It’s our responsibility to strike an appropriate balance between that which is ethical and the promise that regenerative medicine holds.

Science is providing answers to this ethical dilemma without the help of legislation from this Congress thanks to the hard work of dedicated medical researchers.

Yesterday, reported in an article published in the scientific periodical Nature, several teams of researchers have been able to make stem cells from a mouse skin cell with a very special, new technique. So here we have a stem cell that was created from a skin cell without destroying an embryo. Scientific progress is leaping ahead, and we are still focused on old medicine.

In fact, I am extremely disappointed that Congress has even brought forward a two year old bill. Not a single committee hearing, not a single consideration of how the science advanced in the past two years, has been brought forward for discussion. It is shameful that this bill is what we have to offer when science, just yesterday, provides such substantial breakthroughs. For this reason alone, the bill should be defeated. Go back to the committee and regular order.