FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 30, 2007

Isakson Praises President’s Call for House to Pass Isakson Bill on Embryonic Stem Cell Research That Respects Life 
Also Commends President’s Executive Order Expanding Federal Commitment to Embryonic Stem Cell Research

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) today praised President Bush for calling on the House of Representatives to pass legislation authored by Isakson that would allow federal investment in embryonic stem cell research that avoids the moral dilemma of destroying a potential life in the process.

In addition, Isakson applauded President Bush for issuing an executive order today directing the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health to make stem cell research using methods that do not destroy embryos eligible for federal funding.           

“I firmly believe there is a way to allow this important research to move forward without compromising moral standards, and the President’s actions today are a good step forward in that direction,” Isakson said. “ I am especially pleased to have the President’s support for my stem cell legislation, which my Senate colleagues supported with an overwhelming, bipartisan majority.”

The president made the announcements today as he vetoed a different stem cell bill that would have permitted federal funding of embryonic stem cell research involving the potential destruction of viable embryos. Isakson voted against this legislation in the Senate, because he feels it is wrong to federally fund research that potentially destroys human life when there is an alternative method of research that avoids the moral dilemma.

Isakson introduced S.30, the Hope Offered through Principled and Ethical Stem Cell Research (HOPE) Act, with Senator Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) in March. The HOPE Act allows science to move forward in an ethical and moral way by permitting federal funding of stem cell research that does not harm embryos, such as deriving cells from amniotic fluid and placentas, and from embryos that have died naturally.

Isakson’s bill passed by a vote of 70 to 28 on April 11, 2007. President Bush has said he will sign the legislation into law if it reaches his desk, and he called on the House today to pass the bill.

Isakson’s legislation was inspired in part based on research that is being conducted at the University of Georgia on three NIH-registered embryonic stem cell lines that were derived from embryos produced during the natural course of the in-vitro fertilization process but considered incapable of surviving in the womb or during the freezing process.

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