Oregon Bill for Stem Cell Research Guideline Committee Fails 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
June 21, 2007
Salem, OR (LifeNews.com) — Oregon lawmakers voted on Thursday against passage of a bill that would have created a state government committee that would craft guidelines for researchers in the state working with either adult or embryonic stem cells. The committee would not have spent any taxpayer funds promoting either science.
Instead, the panel would have had $160,000 for the state Department of Human Services to provide logistical support.
The bill also condemned human cloning used for reproductive purposes but upset pro-life lawmakers by allowing human cloning for research.
The bill needed 31 votes in the state House to pass and the 30-29 vote was one short.
According to the Portland Oregonian newspaper, all of the Democrats voted yes except Betty Komp of Woodburn and all of the Republicans voted no except Gene Whisnant of Sun River, who wasn’t present for the vote.
Bill sponsor Larry Galizio changed his vote so he could bring the bill up again but he will have to find one Republican to vote with him for the bill to be approved.
"If I can’t find one more vote very soon, the bill will die, at least this session," he told the newspaper.
Oregon Right to Life has been strongly oppose both embryonic stem cell research and human cloning because both technologies involve the destruction of human life.
That’s why the group says the use of adult stem cells is preferred.
"There are many cases where adult stem cell research has been successful in treating and curing injury and disease. These cases include helping patients paralyzed by spinal cord injuries. Adult stem cells have also been used to treat Parkinson’s disease," the group says.
"Embryonic stem cell research, on the other hand, has not produced a single successful treatment to date," it added.
