Congress recycles embryo destruction bill

What with wars, rumors of wars, the Social Security crisis, and border security, to name just a few issues our elected officials should be pondering, how instead are they spending their time?

By recycling a bill President Bush has already promised to veto which would federally fund embryo experimentation.

Today the House passed S. 5, the embryo destructive research bill, by a vote of 247-176, albeit with two more pro-life votes than in January, when the tally was 253-174.

However, the change appeared due to absentees and deaths, not of heart.

The bill has now cleared both chambers and will be sent to the President to veto. An override attempt in the House would fail. Only 146 votes are needed to uphold a veto, which we already have.

Meanwhile, the front pages of the LA Times, NY Times, USA Today, and Washington Post all featured stories today about a research breakthrough that may render embryonic stem cells needless. Explained the LAT:

Scientists have succeeded in reprogramming ordinary cells from the tips of mouse tails and rewinding their developmental clocks so they are virtually indistinguishable from embryonic stem cells, according to studies published today....

"This is truly the Holy Grail - to be able to take a few cells from a patient, say a cheek swab or some skin cells, and turn them into stem cells in the laboratory," said Dr. Robert Lanza, an embryonic stem cell researcher and head of scientific development at Advanced Cell Technology Inc. in Worcester, MA, who was not involved in the research. "It would be like turning lead into gold."

Newsbusters [hat tip: jasper] was pleasantly surprised by the prominence MSM gave this research, although it noted MSM's curbed enthusiasm, always strangely undaunted when reporting the "hope" and "promise" of embryo experimentation.

Also new news since January but ignored by this liberal-controlled Congress bent on ideology over science, as reported by the Associated Press:

Thirteen young diabetics in Brazil have ditched their insulin shots and need no other medication thanks to a risky, but promising treatment with their own stem cells - apparently the first time such a feat has been accomplished.

Though too early to call it a cure, the procedure has enabled the young people, who have type 1 diabetes, to live insulin-free so far, some as long as three years. The treatment involves stem cell transplants from the patients' own blood.

"It's the first time in the history of type 1 diabetes where people have gone with no treatment whatsoever... no medications at all, with normal blood sugars," said study co-author Dr. Richard Burt of Northwestern University's medical school in Chicago.

[Photo, courtesy of the AP, shows researchers flanking a young type 1 diabetic, who wishes to remain unidentified, who no longer needs insulin, thanks to his own adult stem cells.]