Sen. Boxer tours stem cell center

UC IRVINE — U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer visited the Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center on Thursday morning to tour the facilities and encourage scientists to continue their work in the face of federal opposition.

Boxer, an avid supporter of stem cell research, told a crowd of several dozen students, staffers and reporters that the controversial practice was essential to finding cures for human diseases. The Bush administration, she said, favors politics over science in putting limits on available stem cells, and she praised California’s efforts to fund and support embryonic research. The state Supreme Court recently gave clearance to a $3-billion stem cell research effort.

“Our federal policy is unacceptable,” Boxer said. “Californians have voted to say that.”

The senator, who arrived at UCI shortly before 11 a.m., toured the research center’s laboratory and viewed stem cells through a microscope. Chancellor Michael Drake, research center co-directors Hans Keirstead and Peter Donovan and Vice Chancellor for Research Susan Bryant led the tour while staff members showed Boxer the facilities.

At one point, Boxer thanked the staff for answering her many questions, noting that she wasn’t a scientist.

“I’m here as your student,” she told them. “You can teach me.”

Keirstead and Donovan, who recently received multimillion-dollar stem cell research grants from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, said they hoped that Boxer’s appearance would win support for their cause. Proponents of stem cell research call it a necessary step toward curing diseases, but others argue that tampering with human embryos is unethical. In 2001, President Bush allowed federal funds to be diverted toward stem cell research, but only for stem cells that had already been removed from embryos.

With no critics showing up to protest, the event at UCI Thursday strictly catered to the pro-research side.

“To fix a human, we have to fix the nation,” Keirstead said. “Sen. Boxer’s visit is one major step in doing that.”