[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1892 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1892

To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide for the 
establishment and maintenance of a National Amniotic and Placental Stem 
                               Cell Bank.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 17, 2007

Mr. Lipinski (for himself, Mr. McIntyre, Mr. Shuler, Mr. Ellsworth, Mr. 
 Melancon, and Mr. Donnelly) introduced the following bill; which was 
            referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide for the 
establishment and maintenance of a National Amniotic and Placental Stem 
                               Cell Bank.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National Amniotic and Placental Stem 
Cell Bank Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) Research published on January 7, 2007, in ``Nature 
        Biotechnology'' has demonstrated the feasibility of using 
        amniotic and placental stem cells for clinical applications. 
        Stem cells, obtained from the amniotic fluid in routine 
        prenatal testing or from placental tissue, are able to grow 
        into liver, muscle, nerve, and other tissues that could be used 
        to treat a variety of diseases.
            (2) Amniotic fluid and placenta contain stem cells that can 
        be collected without risk to the donor, preserved through 
        freezing for many years, and made available for research and 
        treatment.
            (3) Amniotic and placental stem cells can be directed into 
        all three germ layers.
            (4) Unlike the findings of current embryonic stem cell 
        research, amniotic and placental stem cells do not form tumors, 
        and can be collected without damaging embryos.
            (5) Amniotic and placental stem cells can grow into a 
        variety of cell types and multiply rapidly, can be preserved 
        for self-use, do not form tumors, and can be banked for a 
        population at large.
            (6) An inventory of 100,000 amniotic and placental stem 
        cell units would provide enough cells of sufficient genetic 
        diversity to provide 99 percent of the United States population 
        with a perfect genetic match for transplantation. With over 4 
        million births each year in the United States, a stem cell bank 
        of this size would not take long to collect.
            (7) Recent scientific developments suggest that further 
        research on amniotic and placental stem cells may lead to a 
        greater understanding of certain chronic diseases and birth 
        defects. This research might improve therapies for, and 
        possibly cure, debilitating diseases such as Parkinson's 
        disease, insulin-dependent diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. 
        These diseases cause a disproportionately large share of 
        chronic disabilities and account for a large portion of health 
        care expenditures in the United States.

SEC. 3. NATIONAL AMNIOTIC AND PLACENTAL STEM CELL BANK.

    Title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 241 et seq.) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:

        ``PART S--NATIONAL AMNIOTIC AND PLACENTAL STEM CELL BANK

``SEC. 399FF. NATIONAL AMNIOTIC AND PLACENTAL STEM CELL BANK.

    ``(a) Establishment.--The Secretary shall provide for the 
establishment and maintenance of a National Amniotic and Placental Stem 
Cell Bank (in this section referred to as the `Bank') for the purpose 
of obtaining, storing, and making available for research and treatment, 
human stem cells derived from amniotic fluid or placenta.
    ``(b) Genetic Diversity.--For the purpose of ensuring genetic 
diversity, the Bank shall maintain a collection of not fewer than 
100,000 samples of human stem cells derived from amniotic fluid or 
placenta.
    ``(c) Informed Consent.--The Bank may obtain a stem cell only if 
the woman providing the amniotic fluid or placenta makes a written 
statement of informed consent.
    ``(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--To carry out this section, 
there is authorized to be appropriated $60,000,000 for the period of 
fiscal years 2008 through 2012.''.
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