Last year, just about this time, I did a Press Briefing on the steps of the Senate building in Annapolis Maryland on a stem cell bill. This is good news coming out of Delaware on a similar bill. Where the bill had died and the representative had threatened to reintroduce it. However, in light of the Yamanaka iPSC breakthrough, the decision was made to learn more about this research.
How refreshingly thoughtful!
Rep. Melanie Marshall, the Rep. behind this bill has, “decided not to resurrect the bill because of groundbreaking research results that were announced in November. In two separate studies, researchers were able to use adult skin cells to produce what were essentially the equivalent of embryonic stem cells — without destroying an egg or an embryo.
“We’ve decided to back down from trying to run the bill this year. We want to learn a bit more about the new research that has come out, and that will ultimately inform our final decision in the future,” Marshall said.”
Author Profile
- Jennifer Lahl, MA, BSN, RN, is founder and president of The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network. Lahl couples her 25 years of experience as a pediatric critical care nurse, a hospital administrator, and a senior-level nursing manager with a deep passion to speak for those who have no voice. Lahl’s writings have appeared in various publications including Cambridge University Press, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Dallas Morning News, and the American Journal of Bioethics. As a field expert, she is routinely interviewed on radio and television including ABC, CBS, PBS, and NPR. She is also called upon to speak alongside lawmakers and members of the scientific community, even being invited to speak to members of the European Parliament in Brussels to address issues of egg trafficking; she has three times addressed the United Nations during the Commission on the Status of Women on egg and womb trafficking.
