Stem Cell Research Bill Up For Vote Tomorrow In Senate

Ronald Bailey | March 15, 2006

The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act is supposedly coming up for a vote tomorrow in the Senate. The House of Representatives passed the identical bill last spring on a vote of 238 to 194. The bill aims to expand the number of stem cell lines available for federal funding beyond the few approved by President Bush.

I know, I know--it's federal funding and as I've previously pointed out, federal funding may turn out to be superfluous because there's no shortage of private and state stem cell research funding. Yet, the federal limits arguably do have a chilling effect on the research, e.g., younger scientists will choose to go into other fields with less controversy.

Thanks to Gerontological Society of America for the heads up.