Michelle Wu: “stem cell research offers the prospect for cures for diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's disease. It…”

“stem cell research offers the prospect for cures for diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's disease. It is a development of such great historic significance that I want to hearken back to another era when science was under threat from a theocracy. About 400 years ago, Galileo Galilee was forced to recant the evidence of his eyes that the moons and the planets revolved around each other rather than all of them revolving around the Earth, as the church then insisted that we all believe. But even as the theocracy forced Galileo to recant his views, he was heard to mutter, ``But the planets do move.'' Mr. Speaker, just as the planets move, stem cell research will go forward. The only question is whether it goes forward in this country or in foreign countries; with government support or without government support; subject to NIH guidelines or subject to no ethical guidelines whatsoever. Our choice here is not about stem cell research or not. Just as no theocracy can prevent the planets from moving, no theocracy can prevent stem cell research from going on. The only choice is whether we choose to be relevant to science.”