Arlen Specter: “there have been very extensive discussions on the issue relating to stem cells, which is in the bill, relating to what…”

“there have been very extensive discussions on the issue relating to stem cells, which is in the bill, relating to what President Bush did on August 9 using existing stem cell lines, in an effort to codify that and give the President authority to move in that direction. The stem cell issue has been very controversial for reasons which do not have to be amplified at this time. A good bit of the debate on the subject has been between the Senator from Kansas, Mr. Brownback, and myself. Senator Brownback has posed a series of amendments, which he intends to bring up on this bill, of a very complex nature. The amendments Senator Brownback has proposed to bring up involve the questions of the human germ line gene which I will not begin to explain at the moment, issues about therapeutic cloning, where science has given a name which suggests reproductive cloning, which it is not, but very complicated as to how it is worked out; amendments on the prohibition of the mixing of human and animal gametes where there has been some scientific thought that although very repugnant on its face, there are some important scientific issues involved. One of the matters was submitted to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, and they have not even taken a position on it, which shows the complexity of the issue.”