[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 99 (Tuesday, July 25, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1527]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   STEM CELL RESEARCH ENHANCEMENT ACT

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                           HON. DENNIS MOORE

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 25, 2006

  Mr. MOORE of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, I rise to offer a personal 
explanation as to why I voted in favor of overriding the Presidential 
veto of H.R. 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act.
  On August 9, 2001, President Bush announced that he would only allow 
federal funding for experiments involving stem cells already derived 
from embryos but not for research that would cause the destruction of 
further embryos. I am pleased that the President did not issue a full 
ban on federal funding of stem cell research, but I am very concerned 
that this restriction does not offer researchers the quality and 
diversity they will need to conduct full and complete research on these 
diseases. In fact, the National Institutes of Health recently reported 
that under current federal policy only about 19 stem cell lines are 
available to researchers, some of which are contaminated or otherwise 
unusable.
  On May 24, 2005, the House passed H.R. 810, the Stem Cell Research 
Enhancement Act of 2005, which expands the current federal policy on 
embryonic stem cell research by allowing federal funding on stem cell 
lines derived after August 9, 2001. In addition, the House also passed 
H.R. 2520, legislation to establish a National Cord Blood Stem Cell 
Inventory and authorize $15 million annually to collect 150,000 high 
quality cord blood stem cell units for research or transplantation. I 
voted in favor of both measures. Therefore, I voted today to override 
the President's veto of H.R. 810 because I believe the potential to 
improve lives with stem cell research is too great to dismiss. The 
bipartisan support for this measure is also indicative of the 
importance of stem cell research.
  Recent scientific research has suggested that embryonic stem cells 
hold immense potential to successfully treat many serious medical 
conditions including diabetes, Parkinson's Disease and cancer. 
Scientists believe the knowledge obtained from additional human 
embryonic stem cell studies could lead to the development of techniques 
to generate cells that would replace damaged tissues for a variety of 
conditions. H.R. 810 required that these cells would be acquired, using 
stringent guidelines established by the National Institutes of Health, 
NIH, from fertility clinic embryos, already in existence, that would 
otherwise be discarded. Why waste such biological material when the 
potential human health and scientific benefits of stem cell research 
are staggering in their promise?
  Federal support of stem cell research will allow American scientists 
to harness this groundbreaking technology to potentially save many 
lives and improve the quality of others. In addition, the oversight 
which will come with broad federal support will result in better and 
more ethically controlled research in the field than if funding was 
from private sources alone.

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