Senate passes bill to restrict stem cell research
Embryonic stem cell research would be restricted in Georgia if a bill that passed the state Senate Thursday becomes law.
The “Ethical Treatment of Human Embryos Act” would not allow human embryos to be created in the state for the purposes of scientific research.
“In Georgia, when you create a human embryo, it is for the purpose of creating life,” said Sen. Preston Smith (R-Rome), who re-wrote the bill during a 45 minute-recess in Senate proceedings Thursday afternoon. Senators came back and voted in favor of the bill 34 to 22. An earlier version of the bill had failed.
Smith said Senate Bill 169 protects what he considers to be human life and places some ethical limits on science.
Supporters say the bill does not limit the study of embryonic stem cell lines already in existence or new lines that come from out of state. It is silent on the issue of whether couples using in-vitro fertilization can donate their embryos to science if they no longer need them for pregnancy.
Bill opponent Ruth Claiborne, an adoption attorney, said the measure would hinder in-vitro fertilization for some women who are not infertile, but who have other health problems.
The bill says human embryos can only be created to treat infertility, but not to help an otherwise sick woman create an embryo that another woman could carry.
Opponents say the bill would take Georgia backwards and put politics above science.
Sen. David Adelman (D-Decatur) said it would prohibit the most promising kinds of stem cell research, just as President Barack Obama this week lifted an eight-year-old ban on federal funding of such research.
“We’re sending the unmistakable message that Georgia is anti-science,” Adelman said.
Parts of the bill that had defined a human embryo as a human being, and prohibited the destruction of an embryo for any reason, were removed from the bill after the original version failed.
In arguing in favor of the new version, Smith made reference to disturbing scientific experiments by Nazi Josef Mengele, to explain why experimentation on human embryos could be bad.
“Some things, unchallenged, unfettered, can ultimately lead to evil,” Smith said.
Other senators questioned Smith’s reference to Nazi experiments, saying stem cell research is done with good intentions.
“They’re trying to save lives,” said Sen. Steve Thompson (D-Marietta).
Proponents of stem cell research say embryonic cells hold the potential to find cures to many serious diseases, such as diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and therapy for spinal cord injuries. The cells have the ability to morph into any kind of cell in the human body.
A spokesman for the state university system said the bill would have a damaging effect on stem cell research at Georgia universities.
Charles Craig, president of Georgia Bio, a private nonprofit that promotes Georgia’s life sciences industry, said the legislation would hurt Georgia’s ability to recruit biotech firms.
Georgia is trying to use an international biotech convention in Atlanta in May to showcase the state as a good place to do biotechnology business.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Guides
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2011 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
22 comments Add your comment
AJ
March 12th, 2009
5:20 pm
Thank God this bill was defeated. No matter your RELIGIOUS beliefs, passage of this bill would have been an embarrassment for Georgia. Georgia is the home of the CDC. If this passed, the CDC would surely leave the state. GA would be immediately crossed off the list of companies looking to relocate. It’s scary how scary this bill was. I believe that everyone has the right to their personal religious beliefs, but those beliefs should be kept PRIVATE.
CS
March 12th, 2009
5:33 pm
Amen AJ! The lawmakers in this state never cease to amaze me. A 6 day old embryo is not a living, breathing, thinking, feeling human. It is a frozen embryo that can open the world to cures of some of the most horrible diseases and crippling injuries. If this bill had passed, I would have to move. I have had with this ultra conservative state and its lawmakers trying to push its religious beliefs on me.
Stewart
March 12th, 2009
5:47 pm
This is a reckless bill written by someone with little to no scientific background and apparently no regard for the state’s future economic interests.
cys
March 12th, 2009
5:53 pm
The value of life depends on how convenient to keep it alive and whether it can vote.
It is easy to keep a healthy people alive by giving him food stamp and they can vote after 18 years old, so their lives are most valuable. Youth will eventually grow to 18 so they are almost as valuable.
It is a little bit hard to keep elderly and sick people alive but they can still vote so they are almost as valuable. But if he lost consciousness indefinitely then he lost his value of life because he can not vote anymore and it is very expensive keep him alive.
You need a NICU to keep a 3rd term fetus alive and it is very expensive, but he will eventually vote if he grow up so his life still has some value. While it looks like it only takes a refrigerator to keep a embryo alive but he will never vote if he stays in refrigerator. He needs a woman’s womb and this is the most inconvenient thing in the whole wide word so his live does not have any value.
So let’s just keep abortion legal, unless …, unless scientists said that abortion will cause global warming, which I don’t see how it can be.
matt
March 12th, 2009
5:56 pm
don’t they have better things to do?
reg373
March 12th, 2009
6:04 pm
Just imagine the progress not realized in the last 8 years on stem cell research, and/or progress lost to nations that did back it. It happens to be a gigantic dawning medical enterprise for those nations and companies who moved on it… — found a cool site; Balkingpoints.com — incredible satellite camera view of earth
THE CATHOLIC HAMMER
March 12th, 2009
6:40 pm
I see that the State of Georgia approves of vacuuming the brains out of a baby’s skull.
Jeff
March 12th, 2009
6:44 pm
Whew! I agree with AJ and the others above. Thank God this bill was defeated. GA is already the butt of jokes throughout the land due to our backwards laws on alcohol and such. This would have just been icing on the cake. It would have been disastrous for business (old and new) if the bill had passed. When will the madness under the Gold Dome ever end, you ask? Only after we throw out the bums that have resided there for decades.
Edward
March 12th, 2009
6:50 pm
I think the Rules Committee did the right thing for the citizens of Georgia. If they made a decision that was against the improvement of life and health of the citizens of Georgia then they should be voted out of office, even to the point of impeachment.
Let us save the lives of the people we know as “Bill, Mark, Sue, Helen and others who have disease that this research may cure”.
Hah Rah,..
Georgia Law Makers,
Don’t take us(the people that vote for you) for granted
AGG
March 12th, 2009
6:52 pm
Catholic Hammer.. you are an idiot. The bill has nothing to do with late term abortion but what couples can do with their frozen embryo’s. Letting us thaw and discard them or even donating them to science is none of your damn business. If you don’t like the state of Georgia because of this please PLEASE move to another state. In fact why not move to a country like Afghanistan where abortion is not legal.
tracher
March 12th, 2009
7:03 pm
It is surprising that this bill came to vote when other bills important to families cannot even get a committee meeting. Many low-wage earners (these are people who work!!!) still make wages to low to provide for themselves or their families. Meanwhile, they can lose their job at whim if they need to take care of a sick child or parent since many do not have secure time off. HB 290 was introduced to increase the state minimum wage (still $5.15 an hour) to the federal rate while the Parent Protection Act (HB 37) seeks to give 24 hours of UNPAID job secure time to tend to a child’s medical appointment or school appointment. For years these bills have been ignored. It’s time to invest in living, breathing, working people. I can’t say that anyone I know is pro-abortion but it shocks me that this bill even made it for a vote when our budget has been drastically cut.
CM
March 12th, 2009
7:24 pm
What am I missing? Was this bill passed by the Senate or not? I’m reading different opinions here. I hope those who say it failed are correct because it’s not a good bill. Georgia needs to get out of the 12th century and into the 21st.
jd
March 12th, 2009
7:54 pm
I would like to believe that the bill was defeated, but the article clearly states that our bible thumping, ignorant senate passed the bill. I doubt that our republican governor would not sign it. It seems that the Bush regime lives on in our state senate.
Brittany
March 12th, 2009
8:09 pm
I’m confused too. I am totally against this bill but it seems as though it was passed (by reading the article). However, several of your comments make me think otherwise.
Atlanta Native 1969
March 12th, 2009
8:22 pm
I am a native Atlantan, and have lived here my entire life. I work in law enforcement and I am a moderate Democrat. I used to be proud of Georgia, but since the GOP took over, it has made Georgia a laughing stock. This bill is ridiculous, as is the one that proposes a 5 dollar user fee for going to a strip club. Has Sonny and the GOP done anything worthwhile for the citizens of this state? I have come to the conclusion that the “R” behind a politician’s name means “Retard”. If I was about 20 years younger and single, I would have left so fast and moved to somewhere more progressive, and not stay in a place where idiots like Perdue, and the GOP flourish, catering to right wing, religious priniciples.
Jody Freedlund
March 12th, 2009
8:50 pm
I sincerely hope that Gov. Perdue et al never have to watch a loved one suffer the effects of cancer or a stroke, (Of which I have done both) and realize that the solution that could possibly end these horrors, was denied the very peope they have sworn to serve. Georgia needs to stop confusing politics and religion and take a step toward the new century with the rest of the thinking world. Start thinking about perpetuating an environment where we accept and love each other for our individual differences and realize that is what makes the world rich and interesting and stop all this backward close-minded nonsense. It’s an embarassment and we deserve better. WAKE UP IN THE STATEHOUSE and stop the bible thumping long enough to make some true imprpovements. I am a Christian and a recent transplant and I am constantly amazed at the lack of political discussions that take place in our state. It’s all religious zealotry, and that isn’t constructive for anyone.
THE CATHOLIC HAMMER
March 12th, 2009
9:15 pm
If a fertilized egg isn’t a human being, then you have no argument against vacuuming the brains out of the skull of a baby while still in the womb.
gary daemon
March 13th, 2009
12:02 am
ACTC-Advanced Cell Technology Prepares IND Filing With the Capability to Produce Stem Cell Lines without the Destruction of the Embryo.It appears Georgia has not done its homework on this important issue,please research this company, it will change the way you look at medical treatment for ever,soon the blind may one day see,and without destroying a single embryo,we have only just begun to help those in need.
Thank You
curious
March 13th, 2009
1:59 pm
Diary of an Unborn Baby
• Day 1 – fertilization: all human chromosomes are present; unique human life begins
• Day 6 – embryo begins implanting in the uterus
• Day 22 – heart begins to beat with the child’s own blood, often a different type than the mother’s
tracher
March 14th, 2009
8:08 am
This is disgusting and backwards. I can’t believe what a bunch of idiots that state is filled with and unfortunately you dummies voted the worst into the legislature. This state is going down. Need to find a way out.
JMT
March 16th, 2009
1:11 pm
B/C of this specific “The bill says…not to help an otherwise sick woman create an embryo…” then the feds ought to withhold ALL fed funds in re to medical areas to the State of GA.
If it’s good enough for drinking ages, seat belts & etc it good enough for this.
Smith is an ASS (I already concluded BEFORE this, BTW) for his Nazi comment. I really wish individuals/grps would STOP prostituting deaths of WWII in order to push their agenda. Hitler was a vegetarian so does that mean all veg’s are like him…OF COURSE NOT that an idiotic idea & the same w/ Smith & his ilk’s idiotic comparisons in this.
JMT
March 16th, 2009
1:29 pm
AJ, where do you get that this bill failed?
I can’t find any such article/link…this article says it passed in the senate & I have not seen any article that says it failed on the other side.
(I just did a Google search & came up w/ zero results saying this bill was dead.)