The stakes could not be higher: life and death, potential future cures or life-threatening disappointment. Stem cells could potentially result in treatments or cures for cancer, heart disease, diabetes and other diseases. However, leaders and legislators continue to place outdated and senseless restrictions on critical scientific research that could potentially save and improve millions of lives.
             In August 2001, the Bush administration announced that it would federal funding only for research on about 60 stem-cell lines that existed at the time (CNN, 2006). Researchers have since concluded that many of those lines are contaminated and useless for research. In addition, President George Bush recently vetoed a bill, which the House of Representatives passed in May 2005, that allowed couples who have had embryos frozen for fertility treatments to donate them to researchers rather than let them be destroyed (CNN, 2006).
             Many politicians and groups have strongly opposed Bush's decisions when it comes to stem cell research. In a statement, Lawrence T. Smith, chairman of the American Diabetes Association, called the veto "a devastating setback for the 20.8 million American children and adults with diabetes -- and those who love and care for them (CNN, 2006)."
             Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) opposes abortion but has vigorously supported the stem cell bill. "I do not question that an embryo is a living cell," Hatch said (Bash and Walsh, 2006). "But I do not believe that a frozen embryo in a fertility clinic freezer constitutes human life."
             Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), the Senate majority leader and a transplant surgeon, argues that current restrictions are too tight because there were not as many suitable stem cell lines in 2001 as the White House expected (Bash and Walsh, 2006). "I believe that the progress of science and a pro-life position demand that Congress send a message," he wrote in the Washington Post. "I hope that we can redeem...