Members of Congress Call on President Donald Trump to Defund Embryonic Stem Cell Research
In a bicameral letter led by House Pro-Life Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Values Action Team Chairman Robert Aderholt (R-AL), and Senate Pro-Life Caucus Member Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), 29 Members of Congress encouraged President Donald Trump to stop funding for human embryonic stem cell research (hESC).
“We have serious moral objections to hESC. The research relies on the death of young human beings,” the lawmakers wrote. “Human life cannot be reduced to the level of a guinea pig; there is no such thing as a ‘spare human being’ on whom it is permissible to conduct experiments which kill. The practice of funding this research has been a moral blot on NIH.” Click here to read the letter.
The letter highlighted that between Fiscal Years (FY) 2021-2023, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) spent nearly $1 billion on embryo-destroying stem cell research and estimates spending an additional $318 million in FY2025.
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As President Trump works to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in U.S. government agencies, lawmakers noted “after over twenty-five years of research, there are no FDA-approved hESC therapies on the market… [T]he federal government has lagged behind scientific progress; it continues to fund this outdated hESC research.”
In contrast, the letter celebrated that “successful ethical research exists[1] , including adult stem cells, umbilical cord blood, and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs); it has yielded and continues to unlock treatments for millions of patients worldwide[2] .”
Specifically, the letter states: “In 2005, Rep. Chris Smith authored the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-129), ground-breaking legislation that transformed medical treatment by connecting patients needing treatment with genetically matched cord blood stem cells, providing new opportunities for patients to access cures.”
The lawmakers wrote: “While destruction of human embryos has enriched some researchers, it has not yielded benefits to patients. Meanwhile, ethical alternatives are providing treatments for millions of patients. Therefore, we believe it is in the best interest of both taxpayers and patients to stop spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars each year on hESC research.”
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