Editorial: Waiting for reason

Saturday, Jan. 13, 2007 | 7:11 a.m.

The House has approved a measure that authorizes federally funded research using stem cells harvested from the embryos that fertility clinics would otherwise discard.

But the 253 votes that House members cast in favor of the legislation fell short of the 290 needed to override a veto, which President Bush promised he would issue following the House's vote on Thursday. According to a story by The New York Times, the White House said it would not "compel all American taxpayers to pay for research that relies on the intentional destruction of human embryos."

But the fact of the matter is that the bill calls for using embryos that already are destined for destruction. Therefore, it makes sense that the cells be used to help find treatments for Alzheimer's disease, muscular dystrophy and other ailments. Stem cells can be developed into cells that can be used to help the human body repair damaged organs and tissue.

The Senate also is likely to pass the measure, but those who support this bill aren't holding out hope that the president will have a sudden change of heart.

They are setting up stem cell research to be one of the major issues of the 2008 election. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., sponsor of the bill, told the Times: "By January 2009, we will have a president who favors embryonic stem cell research."

It is sad that people afflicted with Alzheimer's or Parkinson's diseases and those fighting cancer or living with heart disease and diabetes must continue to wait for another presidential election in hopes that what is among the most promising areas of treatment research can move forward with federal funding.

Earlier this month, researchers announced that stem cells can be harvested from the amniotic fluid taken during routine tests on pregnant women, but it will take time to determine whether those cells are suitable for research.

Meanwhile, Bush is not going to budge on using stem cells that researchers already know to be suitable. As he has done with the Iraq war, the defective No Child Left Behind Act and his tax cuts that leave the middle class and poor behind, Bush obstinately clings to his failures, leaving Americans to wait for leadership that, hopefully, brings wisdom back to the White House.