Dianne Feinstein: “let me be very clear. Every letter that is coming in says: Stop, consider, proceed cautiously; this bill would be…”

“let me be very clear. Every letter that is coming in says: Stop, consider, proceed cautiously; this bill would be harmful; it would stop vital research. What is the rush, since the FDA has asserted jurisdiction and the scientific community has engaged in a moratorium? Why proceed like this in such haste, straight to the floor? Only two letters have come in saying, proceed like this: One from the Christian Coalition, and the other one is from the National Right to Life Committee, two letters. The entire scientific community says, go slow, define your terms, know what you are doing. Let me share with you what I understand this technology is. Let's say a somatic cell were taken out of my tissue. The nucleus of that cell is removed and is entered into an egg cell and fused. That cell, once fused, begins to divide and create more cells. The only way that cell can produce a human being is if it is put into a human uterus. Otherwise, it cannot produce a human being. We don't even know if it will produce a human being if it is put in a uterus. There is only one known instance in an animal, Dolly, which now Science magazine has challenged in a major way. But what we do know is that those stem cells, because of their DNA, can clone tissue. For example, a third-degree-burn patient who may reject a skin graft may some day get a skin graft made from his or her own cells and will not reject it. My husband, Bert Feinstein, died of colon cancer and liver cancer.…”