The Maryland House of Delegates passed legislation Friday to provide $25 million in state funding for stem cell research, outvoting delegates who said they were opposed to the destruction of embryos for research purposes.
The bill, which would give funding priority to research on embryonic stem cells, passed by an 85-54 vote. The fight now moves to the Senate, where Republicans have threatened to filibuster a similar bill, starting perhaps as early as next week.
Impassioned debate preceded the House vote, with Delegates drawing on personal experience, history and the Bible to make their arguments for and against the legislation.
Supporters of the bill argued that the state has a responsibility to find treatments for “horrible diseases” and that embryonic stem cells holds great possibility for finding cures of diseases such as Parkinson’s, diabetes and paralysis.
Opponents of the bill argued that embryonic research has yet to produce cures for any human diseases and that state money should instead be focused on adult stem cell research, which has already produced results.
Though their focus was on fiscal responsibility, several opponents made it clear they thought embryonic stem cell research was immoral.
Speaking on the floor of the House, Delegate Gail H. Bates, R-Howard, said spending state money on embryonic stem cell research would not produce the results that sick people and their families expect.
“Giving false hope to these people is like trying to sell fish oil,” she said.
She went on to outline her moral objections to the research. She said the Bible and science give clear guidance to when life begins.
“I believe that the discovery of DNA has shown us where life begins,” she said. “After conception an embryo has everything it needs to live.”
She quoted from a passage in the Old Testament Book of Jeremiah, saying: “Before you were born I set you apart.” The passage suggests that life begins at conception, she said.
Delegate Tanya T. Shewell, R-Carroll County, focused her criticism on the lack of results from stem cell research.
“So far the score for embryonic stem cells has been zero, nada, zip,” she said. “Why should Maryland bet $25 million on the losing research team?”
Responding to that criticism, Majority Leader Kumar P. Barve, D-Montgomery, invoked the name of Robert H. Goddard, a pioneer of rocket development. He said that Goddard, who designed and launched the first liquid-fueled rocket, was unjustly ridiculed for his work.
The lesson to take from Goddard, he said, was that just because embryonic stem cell research has not yet produced a cure, does not mean it is not worth pursuing.
“Robert Goddard blew up a lot of rockets before he got them to fly,” Barve said.
Delegate Peter H. Hammen, D-Baltimore City, said Maryland needed to fund embryonic stem cell research because of restrictions on federal funding put in place by President Bush.
“The science is there, but the m