[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 66 (Wednesday, May 18, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H3551-H3552]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STEM CELL RESEARCH: EMBRYONIC VERSUS ADULT
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Fortenberry). Under the Speaker's
announced policy of January 4, 2005, the gentlewoman from North
Carolina (Ms. Foxx) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the
majority leader.
Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening because I fear that a
number of good people will make a bad decision in the coming weeks.
What is worse is I fear they will be making this decision based on a
plethora of false information, and that is why I am here this evening.
There is an abundance of misinformation, exaggeration, and blatant
lies being spread by interest groups regarding the prospects for
embryonic stem cell research. The first misconception is that embryonic
stem cell research is not legal. The fact is, embryonic stem cell
research is completely legal. Research on embryonic stem cells has
taken place for years.
But what has this research produced? Nothing. While adult stem cells
have treated over 58 diseases in human patients, embryonic stem cells
have not treated even one patient. Adult stem cells have had success in
treating debilitating and fatal illnesses without compromising ethical
standards. Embryonic stem cells have treated nothing while, at the same
time, destroying human life.
So why in the world would anyone support the unethical, failed use of
embryonic stem cells instead of the ethical, successful use of adult
stem cells? Because they do not know the difference. That is why, Mr.
Speaker, I want to share some very important information tonight. If
and when the American public learns the scientific facts, and I want to
stress ``scientific facts'' regarding stem cell research, the ethical
questions will not matter as much.
Now, I had the good fortune today to hear a talk by Dr. Robert P.
George, who is the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence in the
Department of Politics at Princeton University in Princeton, New
Jersey. Not all of the information that I am sharing with you tonight
came from Dr. George, but he gave an outstanding talk sponsored by the
Wilberforce Forum as a part of the Majority Leader's lecture series,
2005. The title of his talk was ``Embryonic Stem Cells: Ethical
Boundaries, and Possible Ways Forward.''
I want to use some material that I have also received related to the
definition of stem cells, and some of the research that has been
produced in this area by Dr. Tadeusz Pachotczyk who has done post
doctoral work at Massachusetts General Hospital at Harvard Medical
School after he earned his PhD in neuroscience from Yale University.
What is a stem cell? I used to teach, and I always believed that you
start with the basics when you are teaching. So let us start with the
definition. What is a stem cell?
A stem cell is essentially a blank cell capable of becoming another,
more differentiated cell-type in the body, such as a skin cell, a
muscle cell or a nerve cell. Why are stem cells important? Stem cells
can be used to replace or heal damaged tissues in cells in the body.
There are two broad classes of stem cells. The two basic types of stem
cells are embryonic type and adult type. Embryonic stem cells and
embryonic germ cells make up the embryonic type. Umbilical cord stem
cells, placental stem cells, and adult stem cells make up the adult
type.
Now, where do embryonic-type stem cells come from? They come from
embryos. Embryonic stem cells are obtained by harvesting living embryos
which are generally five to seven days old. The removal of embryonic
stem cells invariably results in the destruction of the embryo. Another
type of stem cell called an embryonic germ cell can be obtained from
either miscarriages or aborted fetuses.
Now, where do adult type stem cells come from? They come from
umbilical chords, placentas, and amniotic fluid. Adult-type stem cells
can be derived from various pregnancy-related tissues, or they come
from adult tissues. In adults, stem cells are present within various
tissues and organ systems. These include the bone marrow, liver,
epidermis, retina, skeletal muscle, intestine, brain, dental pulp, and
elsewhere. Even fat obtained from liposuction has been shown to contain
significant numbers of adult-type stem cells, and I am going to refrain
from making any jokes about that tonight. Cadavers. Neural stem cells
have been removed from specific areas in post-mortem, human brains as
late as 20 hours following death.
Now, there are people who believe that embryonic stem cells have a
great deal more to offer than adult stem cells. Let me say a little bit
about what embryonic stem cells bring that adult stem cells do not.
They do seem to be very flexible and to have the potential to make any
cell. And, there is a lot of availability, so we are told, with
embryonic stem cells from in vitro fertilization clinics, although
there is some debate about exactly how many there are.
What are some of the disadvantages of embryonic stem cells? They are
very difficult to differentiate uniformly and homogeneously into a
target tissue. It is extremely difficult to get them to do exactly what
we want them to do. Immunogenic. Embryonic stem cells from a random
embryo donor are likely to be rejected after transplantation. They just
do not work as well. They are capable of forming tumors or promoting
tumor formation. This is one of the major drawbacks of embryonic stem
cells.
{time} 2030
And, of course, the most important disadvantage of embryonic stem
cells is that they result in the destruction of human life.
Now, let us talk a little bit about the advantages of adult stem
cells. Special adult-type stem cells from bone marrow and from
umbilical cords have been isolated recently which appear to be as
flexible as the embryonic type. They are already somewhat specialized,
so inducing them to go into a certain area may be much simpler.
They are not immunogenic; recipients who receive the products of
their own stem cells will not experience immune reaction. This is
extremely important. Relative ease of procurement. Some adult stem
cells are easy to harvest: the skin, muscle, marrow, fat, while others
may be more difficult to obtain, brain stem cells.
Umbilical and placental stem cells are likely to be readily
available. More and more people are being encouraged now, when they
have babies, to save the umbilical and placental cells and store them
for possible later use.
[[Page H3552]]
Adult stem cells tend not to form tumors. And there is absolutely no
harm done to the donor when we harvest adult stem cells. Now, what are
the disadvantages? Let us be fair. There are some. There is a limited
quantity of them. They can sometimes be difficult to obtain in large
numbers.
They may not live as long as embryonic stem cells in a culture. And
they may be a little bit less flexible, with the exception again of
bone marrow and umbilical cord ones.
Now, why are adult stem cells preferable to embryonic stem cells?
Adult stem cells are a natural solution. They naturally exist in our
bodies, and they provide a natural repair mechanism for many tissues of
our bodies. They belong in a microenvironment of an adult body, while
embryonic stem cells belong in the microenvironment of the early
embryo, not in an adult body where they tend to cause tumors and immune
system reactions.
Most importantly, adult stem cells have already been successfully
used in human therapies for many years. And let me just say, some of
the therapies that adult stem cells have been used for, they have
treated brain cancer. Embryonic stem cells have not.
Adult stem cells have treated breast cancer, they have treated
ovarian cancer, adult stem cells have treated testicular cancer.
Embryonic stem cells have not.
Adult stem cells have treated leukemia, Crone's disease, anemia,
stroke, Parkinson's disease. Embryonic stem cells have not been able to
treat any of these diseases, not any of them.
It is really important that people understand the difference in the
two types of cells. I support the President's position on what to do
with embryonic stem cells. I think the President has come up with a
very carefully thought-out position on this issue. And this is where we
need to stay.
The people who are pushing the use of embryonic stem cells say they
want something to salvage from the cryo stage because they will be
destroyed or kept in limbo. That does not have to happen. Once we begin
to use embryonic stem cells for treatment, we are crossing the Rubicon
in terms of ethical issues. We cross an ethical barrier when we do that
because we are destroying one life for another.
Those embryos are human beings and should not be treated as research
subjects. We would never kill to harvest body parts because of the
principle of human dignity.
We do not even do this with our most heinous criminals. We do not
treat them as things. We treat them with dignity until the time that
they die.
We have a terrible situation with people promoting the destruction of
embryos for stem cell research. And I thought it would be interesting
tonight to remind us of what the Declaration of Independence says. This
is the Declaration of Independence that unfortunately too few young
people read or understand in our society anymore.
And I will just read the beginning of it: ``When in the course of
human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the
political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume
among the powers of the Earth the separate and equal station to which
the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect
to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes
which impel them to the separation.''
And this is the part of the Declaration that if anybody knows the
Declaration of Independence at all, this is the part that they know:
``We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal. That they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable
rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness.''
That to secure these rights governments are instituted among men,
deriving their just powers from the consent of the government.
It is extremely important that we not lose sight of what founded this
country, and the basic principle of life which is enunciated in the
Declaration of Independence. We have to come down to understanding what
is a human being. Scientists will say that an embryo is a human being.
It is internally self-directed. And I want to say some more about that.
Because what happens with an embryo is nobody has to do anything to
it from the outside. It is a human being at the embryonic stage. And it
internally self-directs itself to grow and to develop into a person
that then is born after the cells divide and divide and divide.
We are not talking about a religious issue only. For some people this
is a fundamental religious issue, and it should be. But it is also a
scientific issue. All human beings have profound human dignity. And,
again, never, never in our society have we stooped so low as to
sacrifice some human beings for others.
There is not a single therapeutic trial going on in the United States
right now using embryonic cells, no clinical trial. There are lots and
lots and lots of trials going on using adult cells.
There is private money going into this research, but the President
has said we will not use government money; we will not tax the people
of this country, many of whom are so opposed to this issue to do
something which they find so abhorrent. Now, there is money going into
research. Private money. Where is that money going?
It is going into the research for adult cells. That should tell us a
lot. People think that that is where the payoff is going to be. People
do not invest their money in things that they do not think is going to
pay off.
And it is very, very important that we not be persuaded to use
government money, our money, taxpayers' money to go into something that
not only holds very, very little promise for any kind of results, but
is so abhorrent again to so many of our people.
Now, I want to share with you some success stories about adult stem
cell research. Laura Dominguez had a spinal cord injury. As a result of
a car accident in 2001, she broke her neck and was paralyzed from the
chest down. She was treated with a mix of adult stem cells and other
cells obtained from olfactory tissues inside her own nose.
The cells were transplanted across the injury site and her damaged
spinal cord; and several months after the surgery, she was able to move
her foot. She now walks with braces. Her remarkable progress is
continuing, and several other spinal cord injury patients like her are
also showing benefits from the transplant surgery.
Patrizia Durante was diagnosed with acute leukemia 6 months into her
pregnancy. Her daughter, Victoria Angel, was born healthy; but Durante
was given only 6 months to live. The stem cells from the blood of her
daughter's umbilical cord were used for a transplant. Several years
later, Durante is in full remission.
Durante told reporters she saved her mommy. She is a little miracle.
That is why we named her Victoria Angel. She is my little angel.
There are many, many examples of people who have been treated and
treated extremely well with adult stem cells. Again, I want to say that
we are stepping into dangerously uncharted territory when we begin the
practice, or if we begin the practice of destroying one life to try to
help another life.
It is an ethical Rubicon that we should not be crossing. And, again,
I know that many people are doing this because they are concerned. They
have members of their family who are diabetic, they have members of
their family who have Parkinson's disease, or they know people who have
diseases and they want to do something to help them.
I urge them to study this issue very, very carefully and make sure
that they understand the differences between what is happening with
adult stem cell research and embryonic stem cell research. And I feel
certain that those people will make the right decision, and they will
not vote to use money to destroy human embryos and go in that direction
when we do not have to, because we have the means to save lives and
improve the quality of life with adult stem cells.
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