Katie Porter: “Mr. Chairman, I listened to the testimony of Dr. Eric Wieschaus, who won the Nobel Prize last fall for his work with…”

“Mr. Chairman, I listened to the testimony of Dr. Eric Wieschaus, who won the Nobel Prize last fall for his work with embryo development, and he testified in response to my question that he felt NIH should support human embryo research. Dr. Varmus, the head of NIH, has made compelling arguments to support this research because of the potential advances it could generate in knowledge about fertility, miscarriage, and contraception. It could also lead to breakthroughs in the use of embryonic stem cells, which have great promise in transplantation for treatment of diseases such as leukemia, spinal cord injury, immune deficiencies, and blood disorders. Mr. Chairman, the creation of spare embryos is a necessary and inevitable part of in vitro fertilization and it seems to me, at the very bottom line, that given the potentials for addressing and overcoming and preventing human disease, their use in research gives meaning to their existence which would otherwise simply not exist. They would be discarded in the normal course of events. Mr. Chairman, this would give meaning to their existence; would help in biomedical breakthroughs; and I think the amendment of the gentlewoman from New York for that reason deserves support, and I urge Members to support it.”