[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 825]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



           SUPPORT H. RES. 414 FOR STEM CELL MEDICAL RESEARCH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 19, 1999, the gentlewoman from Maryland (Ms. Morella) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, last week I joined with my good friend and 
colleague, the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney), in the 
introduction of H. Res. 414 to allow Federal funding of pluripotent 
stem cell research to help us further understand Parkinson's, cancer, 
blindness, AIDS, Alzheimer's, diabetes, Muscular Dystrophy, Sickle-Cell 
Anemia, brain and spinal cord injuries, heart, lung, kidney and liver 
diseases, strokes, Lou Gehrig's Disease, birth defects, and other life-
threatening diseases and disabilities.
  House Resolution 414 does not request a specific amount of money, nor 
does it direct disease-specific research. It simply asks that Federal 
money be allowed to be utilized for the next best chance science has, 
not only to treat, but to cure, debilitating and life-threatening 
illnesses that afflict millions of Americans.
  Many people have confused pluripotent stem cell research with human 
embryo research. Stem cells are not embryos. In fact, there is a ban on 
the use of Federal funds for human embryo research in the United 
States. Pluripotent stem cells cannot develop into complete human 
beings; and, therefore, under the law, they are not embryos.
  Pluripotent stem cells are the type of cell that can be turned into 
almost any type of cell or tissue in the body. The medical community 
estimates that human pluripotent stem cell research makes it a very 
real possibility that Parkinson's Disease will be cured within 5 years. 
The American Cancer Society strongly supports pluripotent stem 
research. In fact, cancer research has shown that injections of stem 
cells could revive the immune response of patients undergoing bone 
marrow transplants. With stem cell technology, transplantation of human 
retinal tissue may be the cure for blinding retinal degenerative 
diseases which affect more than 6 million Americans.
  Stem cell research holds the key; it holds the key to solve the 
problem of the body's reaction to foreign tissue, resulting in dramatic 
improvements in the treatment of a number of life-threatening 
conditions such as burns and kidney failure for which transplantation 
is currently used.
  While the potential medical benefits of pluripotent stem cell 
technology are unprecedented, the National Institutes of Health has 
proposed guidelines outlining that this area of research must be 
conducted in accordance with strict ethical standards.

                              {time}  1300

  NIH understands the ethical, legal, and social issues relevant to 
human pluripotent stem cell research and is sensitive to the need to 
subject it to oversight that is more stringent than that associated 
with the traditional NIH scientific peer review process.
  Most importantly, Mr. Speaker, Federal funding would bring with it a 
level of oversight that will not be present if the work remains the 
sole province of the private sector.
  Finally, the American people support stem cell research, as shown by 
a nationwide survey conducted by Opinion Research Corporation 
International last year. They found that 74 percent of those polled 
favored funding of stem cell research by NIH.
  Federal funds are crucial to allow scientists to proceed with stem 
cell research, which offers hope to more than 100 million Americans who 
suffer from a myriad of deadly and debilitating diseases.
  In closing, Mr. Speaker, I want to urge my colleagues to support 
medical research in the search to find the cure for life-threatening 
disease and disability. I ask them to cosponsor House Resolution 414.

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