Republican Leader Apologizes for Holocaust Remarks During Stem Cell Debate

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- State House Minority Leader Bruce Chandler apologized Friday for remarks other Republicans made earlier in the week comparing embryonic stem cell research to the Holocaust.

"The references made to the Holocaust were regarded by some, understandably, as insensitive and inappropriate," Chandler, R-Granger, said on the House floor... I offer my apologies to them and to people who have committed their lives to using science to improve humanity."

Rep. Shay Schual-Berke, D-Normandy Park, who sponsored the bill endorsing embryonic stem cell research and who is Jewish, said she believed Chandler's apology was heartfelt, sincere and appropriate.

"We need to take this as an opportunity now to continue to educate and inform," Schual-Berke said.
"I don't know anyone who thinks the horrible events of the Holocaust were anything but an affront to humanity," she added. Comparing the murder of 6 million Jews to stem cell research, she said, "is just unthinkable."

Schual-Berke's bill passed by a vote of 59-36 in the House after an emotional, sometimes tearful debate late Tuesday night...


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