Political Quotes

“last year I made a commitment to try to bring H.R. 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, to the floor. This week, I followed through on that promise. Over the last 2 days, we have discussed science, we have discussed ethics and how those two issues, science and ethics, interplay. That is important because stem cell research will be the first of many major moral and ethical challenges to biomedical research that this Senate has the responsibility to address in the 21st century. We will face similar discussions again and again as biomedical science rapidly advances, especially as we learn more and more about molecular and cellular developmental biology. It is our responsibility as legislators, as representatives of the American people, to determine the proper role for our Federal Government, both in financial support, as well as in ethical oversight, in this evolving, new, exciting research and to build around it appropriate ethical safeguards and appropriate ethical framework. As legislators, as representatives, we must participate in defining this research, surrounding the culture of life. If we don't do so, the research itself will begin to define us and who we are. Biomedical research holds great promise, but it is a promise that must be harnessed within these moral and ethical safeguards.…”