By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – U.S. Senator Jim Talent is urging people on both sides of the stem cell debate to compromise.
Earlier this month the Missouri Republican withdrew as a co-sponsor of federal legislation meant to ban somatic cell nuclear transfer. Many social conservatives consider that procedure to be human cloning.
Talent is facing heavy criticism from pro-life groups. But he says there is room for compromise on the issue.
"The way that both sides are going to get what they want is to reconcile the interest with the other side, so we can move into this chapter of developmental biology feeling good that we're getting the research that we need without the moral qualms that we may have had," Talent said.
Talent is running for re-election against Democrat Claire McCaskill.
She has voiced strong support for embryonic stem cell research. And McCaskill supports a proposed statewide ballot initiative to protect it.
Talent says he will not comment on the measure until it is officially on the ballot.