In interviews with United Press International and at regular news briefings, several U.S. senators praised announcements made last week that two separate Massachusetts research teams had succeeded in growing mouse stem cells while preserving the viability of the embryos from which they came.

The findings could offer an alternative to policymakers at odds over whether to expand government-funded embryonic stem-cell research -- which at present still requires that an embryo be destroyed to harvest its stem cells.

Research supporters maintain that the studies constitute an ethical use of embryos left over from in-vitro fertilization that otherwise would face destruction.

Some researches point to embryonic stem cells as a promising source of new tissues that one day could be grown to treat a host of diseases, including diabetes and Parkinson's, as well as spinal-cord injuries.

The Senate has been facing an impasse over limits to federal funding imposed by President Bush in August 2001, though the debate is expected to resurface before Congress recesses this fall.

Opponents of the research said the new findings would help their cause to limit or ban the research leading to embryo destruction.

"It's going to take some steam out of this rapid march for destroying human embryos for stem cells because we've got another rout you can go without destroying human life," Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., a leading opponent of embryonic research, told UPI.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., a physician and vocal opponent of embryonic research, said the new findings would bolster bills he already has sponsored to provide federal funding for research into embryo-sparing extraction techniques. Debate over whether to attach the measure and others to a bill expanding federal stem-cell-research funding helped stall Senate debate several months ago.

Coburn told UPI last week's announcement would weaken the claim by stem-cell proponents that "the only way we can solve diabetes, for example is by embryonic stem-cell research. That's a lie."

The House passed an expansion of federal stem-cell-research funding last May by a vote of 238 to 194. Now, supporters in the Senate claim they have acquired more than the 60 votes needed to ensure the measure will pass, but conflicts over the ground rules for debate so far have kept it from reaching the Senate floor.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., vowed several weeks ago to attach the new stem-cell-research funding measure to an upcoming health-appropriations bill.

Other supporters said the findings would not deter their efforts to maintain Bush's limits on federal funding.

Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., praised the new research at a regular briefing for reporters Tuesday, but noted it would take three to four years to transfer the technique from mouse to human embryos.

"In the meantime, we have people suffering from dreaded diseases today," Reid said.

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