James M. Talent: “earlier this year I came to the Senate floor in opposition to human cloning and in support of new stem cell alternatives…”

“earlier this year I came to the Senate floor in opposition to human cloning and in support of new stem cell alternatives that could allow us to get exactly the stem cells we want to relieve human suffering without creating, destroying, or cloning a human embryo. I said during that speech that it appears that the very advances of science that have caused the ethical dilemmas in this area of stem cell research may now be providing a solution. The alternatives bill, S. 2754, seeks a genuine way forward that all Americans can wholeheartedly endorse. One year ago, the President's Council on Bioethics issued a report entitled ``Alternative Sources of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells.'' This report outlined four proposals for obtaining pluripotent stem cells-- those with the same properties and potentials as embryonic stem cells-- using techniques that do not involve the destruction of human embryos. In the year since that report, major advances in each of these approaches have been documented in peer-reviewed research articles published in leading scientific journals. Two of these ``alternative methods'' offer the possibility of obtaining superior stem cells with potential scientific and medical advantages over those that could be obtained by destroying embryos. Altered nuclear transfer and direct reprogramming would permit the production of pluripotent stem cell lines of specific genetic types.…”