Roscoe Bartlett: “we have just heard an impassioned plea to proceed with embryonic stem cell research. Tomorrow we are going to vote on a…”

“we have just heard an impassioned plea to proceed with embryonic stem cell research. Tomorrow we are going to vote on a bill that would expedite embryonic stem cell research. I have here the latest issue of Time magazine. It just arrived in our office, May 23, and the lead article in it says ``Why Bush's Ban Could Be Reversed.'' It is talking about stem cell research. In view of the interest all across America and in view of the fact that tomorrow we are going to be voting on a bill, I thought it might be well this evening to spend a few minutes putting this debate in context. What are stem cells? This is a new term to many Americans. Our first chart is a depiction of the development of early embryos and then all of the tissues in the body which develop from this embryo. The ultimate stem cell here is the zygote itself. The zygote is produced by the union of the egg from the mother and the sperm from the father. A stem cell is a cell which has the capability of differentiating into a number of other cells. Of course, that is the hope of embryonic stem cell research, that we might induce a cell to develop into a tissue, an organ or cells which will be useful in treating diseases. This is a very abbreviated depiction of the early development of the embryo because it skips the morula stage, and we will come back to that in a few moments because that is the stage where most of the attention is focused now.…”