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I thank the ranking member for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, the speed of scientific investigation certainly exceeds that of the legislative process. Medical research, especially in the field of regenerative medicine, holds great promise. It’s our responsibility to strike an appropriate balance between that which is ethical and the promise that regenerative medicine holds

Science is resolving and providing answers to this ethical dilemma actually without the help of legislation from this Congress really thanks to the hard work of dedicated medical researchers.

Yesterday an article published in the scientific periodical Nature, several teams of researchers have been able to make stem cells from a mouse skin cell, a mouse fineo blast, with a very special technique they developed. So here we have a stem cell that was created from a skin cell without destroying an embryo. These researchers have already shown success with mice by reprogramming mature cells to act like stem cells. This field of cell signaling will be very important in the field of regenerative medicine in the decades to come. This is looking to see how the reprogrammed cells may limit the growth of tumors, identified when using embryonic stem cells from destroyed embryos.

The recent work of Dr. Anthony Atala, has found that stem cells derive from am any amniotic fluid has the same characteristics as that from embryos. Dr. Atala has been able to do this in mice. This is not from the embryos, but from the placenta, where there is less risk of a tumor developing. Because this is not from the embryos, there is no harm to the embryo.

In fact, Mr. Speaker, I am extremely disappointed that we brought this bill to the floor without a hearing in our committee. The science has moved tremendously. This is the same bill we had two years ago that we debated on this house floor. Not a single committee hearing, not a single consideration of how the science advanced in the past two years, that, Mr. Speaker is a shame. For that reason the bill should be defeated. Go back to the committee and regular order. I yield back.