For the second time in as many years, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill to expand federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research. The Senate should pass the bill next month. Last year, President Bush used his first veto to kill an earlier version of the same bill. He has vowed to veto this year's bill as well.

Before he does, he should talk to Maria and Tim Schmanski of Orem. They are taking their daughter Tori to China for a stem-cell therapy that is not available in the United States. Tori's brain was injured when she was submerged for 20 minutes, trapped in a car in a canal. Tori is unable to speak or to swallow.

Her parents hope that injections of adult stem cells into Tori's spine will help her to heal. It's a long shot, but the Schmanskis need a miracle.

Their inability to get a chance for one in the United States is not directly related to the House bill, because she will receive adult stem cells, but it offers a glimpse of what could happen if the U.S. government continues to deny federal funding to embryonic stem-cell research in this country.

If therapies are developed first overseas, because research there is not hobbled by policies like Bush's, Americans could find themselves having to go abroad for the treatments that could derive from cutting-edge stem-cell research.

Stem cells can be directed to grow into many different cell types in the human body, including cells that have been destroyed by disease. So, for example, stem cells could be guided to grow into insulin-producing cells that could cure diabetes. Or they could provide nerve cells to help heal spinal cord injuries.

Stem cells are found in adults, in embryos and in fetuses. But scientists agree that, based on current knowledge, embryonic cells show the most ability to grow replacements for damaged tissues.

In 2001, President Bush restricted federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research to cell lines that had been produced prior to that date. He did so because embryos must be destroyed to acquire their stem cells. He argues that this is immoral because life must be taken.

But the embryos that are used to produce the cells are the surplus of in vitro fertilization that would have been thrown away in any case. The embryos that are destroyed have grown for only a matter of days and form a speck about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. They do not yet form organs or any other discernible human traits.

Though we agree that the president is right to consider carefully the ethical implications of this research, we believe that the hope for improving lives tips the balance in its favor. Denying federal funds for embryonic stem-cell research that could someday help people like Tori Schmanski wrongly places a narrow view of human life above human compassion for the living.