The legal challenge over the federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research resulted in a Senate hearing today (Thursday).
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, held an appropriations sub-committee hearing on the government's role of funding the controversial research.
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., co-author of the Dickey-Wicker law, and one of several witnesses who testified today, said the government should not be involved in subsidizing controversial, life-destroying research with taxpayer dollars.
Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Penn., a cancer survivor and proponent of embryonic research, said, "We are not dealing with human life. If it would be turned into human life, no one would suggest using them for medical research."
"In my opinion," Wicker responded, "the body of scientific evidence developed since 1995 has served only to strengthen the argument in favor of Dickey-Wicker.
The Dickey-Wicker law – which is at issue in the pending legal challenge –prohibits tax dollars to be used "in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded or knowingly subjected to risk of injury…"
"This debate involves profound ethical and moral questions," Wicker said. "This is a matter of conscience for me and millions of Americans who are deeply troubled by the idea that their taxpayer dollars may be used to destroy another human life when there are other proven techniques out there available."
Date Published: September 16, 2010
