1.This Act may be cited as
the Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapy
Enhancement Act of 2007
.
2.It is the purpose of this Act to—
(1)intensify
research that may result in improved understanding of or treatments for
diseases and other adverse health conditions; and
(2)promote the
derivation of pluripotent stem cell lines without the creation of human embryos
for research purposes and discarding, destroying, or knowingly harming a human
embryo.
3.Human
pluripotent stem cell researchPart B of title IV of the Public Health
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 284 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 498C
the following:
409J.Human
pluripotent stem cell research
(a)The Secretary shall conduct and support basic and applied
research to develop techniques for the isolation, derivation, production, or
testing of pluripotent stem cells that have the flexibility of embryonic stem
cells (whether or not they have an embryonic source), and may result in
improved understanding of or treatments for diseases and other adverse health
conditions, provided that such isolation, derivation, production, or testing
will not involve—
(1)the creation of a
viable human embryo or embryos for research purposes; or
(2)the destruction
or discarding of a human embryo or embryos, or knowingly subjecting a human
embryo or embryos to risk of injury or death greater than that allowed for
research on fetuses in utero under section 498(b) of this Act and section
46.204(b) of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations.
(b)Not
later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this section, the
Secretary, after consultation with the Director, shall issue final guidelines
that—
(1)provide guidance
concerning the next steps required for additional research, which shall include
a determination of the extent to which specific techniques may require
additional basic or animal research to ensure that any research involving human
cells using these techniques would clearly be consistent with the standards
established under subsection (a);
(2)prioritize
research with the greatest potential for near-term clinical benefit; and
(3)consistent with
subsection (a), take into account techniques outlined by the President's
Council on Bioethics and any other appropriate techniques and research.
(c)Not later than January 1 of each year, the Secretary
shall prepare and submit to the appropriate committees of the Congress a report
describing the activities carried out under this section during the fiscal
year, including a description of the research conducted under this
section.
(d)Nothing in this section shall be construed as
altering the policy in effect on the date of enactment of this section
regarding the eligibility of stem cell lines for funding by the National
Institutes of Health.
(e)Authorization
of appropriationsThere is authorized to be appropriated such
sums as may be necessary to carry out this section.
(f)In
this section:
(1)The term human embryo or embryos includes
any organism, not protected as a human subject under part 46 of title 45, Code
of Federal Regulations, as of the date of enactment of this section, that is
derived by fertilization, parthenogenesis, cloning, or any other means from one
or more human gametes or human diploid cells.
(2)The term pluripotent stem cells means
precursor cells that are capable both of perpetuating themselves as stem cells
and of producing all or almost all the cell types of the developing
body.
(3)The term stem cell line means stem cells which
have been cultured under in vitro conditions that allow proliferation without
differentiation from months to years.
(4)The
term viable means material obtained from the in vitro
fertilization process that is transferable into the
womb.
.