The bill that Bush vetoed with the statement "these boys and girls are not spare parts" restricts the research:
Quote:
This legislation does NOT allow funding for the creation or destruction of embryos. This is already outlawed in the annual Dickey-Wicker Amendment that is attached as a rider to the Labor HHS Education Appropriations Bill. Rather it allows federally funded research on stem cell lines derived ethically according to the following principles:
* The stem cells were derived from human embryos that have been donated from in vitro fertilization clinics, were created for the purposes of fertility treatment, and were in excess of the clinical need of the individuals seeking such treatment. Prior to the consideration of embryo donation and through consultation with the individuals seeking fertility treatment, it was determined that the embryos would never be implanted in a woman and would otherwise be discarded.
* The individuals seeking fertility treatment donated the embryos with written informed consent and without receiving any financial or other inducements to make the donation.
As you can see this legislation for the first time aims to end the "Wild West" of stem cell research by establishing an ethical construct. It also does not expand funding for embryonic stem cell research. I think the most critical aspect of this policy is that the embryos we are discussing are blastocysts, created for the purposes of in vitro fertilization, developed into a few hundred cells, no bigger than the tip of a pencil, and which are spare or in excess of clinical need and in every single case are slated for medical waste. In keeping with your principles, the "life and death" decision has been made - the donors have decided to discard these embryos and they will be discarded. Why not use the stem cells we can derive from these embryos, which will never become life, to help the millions of people suffering across the United States?
http://www.house.gov/castle/pr_06_SC...entletter.html
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So I am not accused of taking the Bush statement out of context:
PRESIDENT BUSH: Yet we must also remember that embryonic stem cells come from human embryos that are destroyed themselves. Each of these human embryos is a unique human life, with inherent dignity and matchless value. We see that value in the children who are with us today. Each of these children began his or her life as a frozen embryo that was created for in vitro fertilization, but remained unused after fertility treatments were complete. Each of these children was adopted while still an embryo, and has been blessed with the chance to grow up in a loving family. These boys and girls are not spare parts.
According to the background from the Castle bill, only 10 percent of the "in vitro" embryos not used by the primary parents are "adopted" and the rest destroyed.