[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 6 (Thursday, January 11, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E84]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         GRANTING MILLIONS HOPE

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                         HON. MARTIN T. MEEHAN

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 11, 2007

  Mr. MEEHAN. Madam Speaker, in the United States this year alone we 
will see more than 500,000 people die from cancer, 200,000 people die 
from diabetes, 75,000 people go blind and 50,000 people will be added 
to the scores who already suffer from Parkinson's or Alzheimer's.
  These are 825,000 reasons why my colleagues must vote today in 
support of Stem Cell research. As one researcher at Harvard Medical 
School wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine: ``the science of 
human embryonic stem cells is in its infancy.'' Restricting stem cell 
research now, he said: ``threaten[s] to starve the field at a critical 
stage.'' But that's exactly what President Bush has done.
  In August 2001, the President ruled that federal funding couldn't be 
used to research new stem cell lines. In effect, he gave our 
scientists--the best in the world--only 19 stem cell lines, many of 
which were contaminated and unusable.
  Today we can right this terrible wrong. With more stem cells 
available, our scientific community will have a better chance of making 
incredible discoveries--like curing cancer and diabetes, and saving 
kidneys and livers. Some opponents of this bill argue that there is no 
need for embryonic stem cell research. This is a false choice. We don't 
have to stop embryonic stem cell research and only focus on amniotic 
stem cells, or adult stem cells, or cord blood stem cells.
  We can, we should, and we must research all areas of stem cells--
because anyone area could produce the miracle cure. This bill is as 
ethical as it is common sense. There are millions of reasons to say 
yes, and no good reason to say no.

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