Bills Would Both Promote, Forbid Stem Cell Research - Texas House Panel Considers Clashing Views

AUSTIN - A House committee on Monday heard testimony on six pieces of legislation relating to stem cell research, with much of the discussion focusing on whether the state should allow a type of research that clones embryos for therapeutic reasons.

Two bills focus on the embryonic stem cell research itself, while three bills and one joint resolution examine funding and oversight for the work. The therapeutic research is hailed in some quarters as the future of medicine but decried in others as destroying human life.

Many think therapeutic cloning holds the greatest promise for diseases that defy treatment. Using cells cloned from a patient's own tissue could lead to cures for Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, heart disease, various cancers and spinal cord injury.

Ethical concerns raised

A bill filed by Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, would prohibit the therapeutic work. Such research raises ethical concerns because it could lead to cloning babies, King said.

"Extracting the stem cell destroys the embryo, and that's where our ethical dilemma begins," King told the House State Affairs Committee. "There is no difference in the process used to produce cloned human embryos."

King said he believes life begins at conception and therefore, this process destroys human life. He described to the committee the life process — from embryo to fetus to infant to child to adolescent to adult — to explain his position.

"At any time in that process had your life been terminated, it would have destroyed your life," he said. "So I don't see how you can say this isn't destroying human life."

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