Mitt Romney: Town Hall Meeting 12/26/07

2008-10-30T09:31:17Z

Mitt Romney
Town Hall
Merrimack, NH 12/26/07

TRANSCRIPT:
MITT ROMNEY: [...] I would allow embryos, so called surplus embryos from in vitro fertilization, I would allow them to be used by private enterprise, as they currently are. I don't think there's any bill in Congress that says that would not be allowed. So we allow that to continue to occur.

Where would I spend my money? And you may have watched that very first debate at the Reagan library, and I talked about alternative methods of creating stem cells. Which I thought had the greatest potential, and I heard this from a number of individuals that I spoke with about this issue, and there were two technologies being spoken of at the time of some significance. One was known as alternate nuclear transfer, [...] and the other is something that is known as directory programming, where they take the cell of an adult. They're able to adjust the nucleus and the DNA in the cell such that you're able to create a stem cell. This was a headline in the USA Today about two months ago, it is extraordinarily promising. A combination, I believe, it was a Japanese and American scientists have found that they can create new, very potent cells, stem cells, without having to create new life in the laboratory. Instead using cells of our own skin. And therefore we don't have to harvest eggs from women, and you think this is a very invasive procedure, in some respects, very troubling procedure. This is now a way to get stem cells without having to pursue that pathway. And I believe that's the most promising, that's why it's received the attention that it has, and that's why if I was investing Federal dollars, I'd say let's use these alternative methods of creating stem cells for research, I think it's the best way to get to cures, and like you I have a very personal interest in this topic and want to see it explored to the extent humanely possible, the stem cell opportunities that may be available. But I do not want to create new embryos. I do not want to be participating in the creation of new embryos, which are then going to be destroyed. Thank you.

LABEL: MR NH 12-26 (BH#43) IHSED-clipD

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Moira Gunn - How U.S. Laws Affect Stem Cell Research

2008-10-14T11:26:40Z

Complete video at: fora.tv

Host of NPR's Tech Nation and BioTech Nation Dr. Moira Gunn discusses ways in which current U.S. law presents challenges for American stem cell researchers.

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"The Five Biggest Biotech Challenges Facing America" with Moira Gunn.

Biotech is coming of age. It's time to incorporate it into national public health policies, says Gunn, and to re-examine policies on genetically modified foods and revisit the economics of biofuels. Drawing on extensive research and hundreds of her own radio interviews, Gunn presents Five for the Future that show biotech is here and on a roll.

Moira Gunn is host of the radio programs Tech Nation and BioTech Nation, aired by National Public Radio. Tech Nation episodes are normally based on an interview with the author of a science or technology book. BioTech Nation is based on interviews with significant people in the field of bio-technology, as well as regular discussions with science journalist David Ewing Duncan.

Tech Nation and BioTech Nation programs are also published as podcasts by IT Conversations.

Gunn's early career included work at NASA on large-scale scientific computation and global communications, with special emphasis in infrared satellite image processing, computational fluid dynamics, and global climate and weather modeling. She also did work in robotics engineering at IBM, Morton Thiokol, United Technologies/Pratt and Whitney, Lockheed-Martin, Rolls-Royce, and the US Navy.

Gunn has a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Purdue University and an M.A. in computer science.

Watch the video

embryos at Brave New Films

Mitt Romney: Town Hall Meeting 12/26/07

Moira Gunn - How U.S. Laws Affect Stem Cell Research