Rep. Senator Diana DeGette supports stem-cell research; Shouldn’t you too?

DeGette, a Denver Democrat, and Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., are sponsoring a bill that would add new ethical standards and increase the number of lines of embryonic stem cells available for federally funded disease research. The bill is expected to come up for a vote in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

Alex Howard carries an insulin pump around his waist at all times and pricks his finger 10 times a day to check his blood sugar levels because of his diabetes. The 6-year-old’s mother, Melanie Howard, said Alex’s only hope of one day being free of the intensive medical care is embryonic stem-cell research.

“There’s little (hope) we have,” Melanie Howard said. “Research might lead to a transplant opportunity and maybe to a cure in this lifetime.”

Howard and her son were on hand to support Rep. Diana DeGette at a news conference Sunday in Denver.

Shouldn’t you be supporting her too?

Studying stem cells could provide answers to kidney transplants, said Dr. Peter Gottlieb, a doctor who specializes in treating diabetes patients at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. He said more than a million people in America have diabetes, but there are only enough kidney transplants for 8,000 patients per year.

In a thoughtful gesture demonstrating his immense sympathy (or apathy?) for human life US President Bush has said he would veto the bill and compares it to the destruction of human life!

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