Congressional and NIH Developments on Stem Cell Research
The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2004 (HR 4682) is new legislation in the House of Representatives that would provide for federal funding of embryonic stem cell research on lines derived after August 9, 2001. ASH has endorsed this bill and encourages members to contact Congress to gain additional co-sponsors.
In the U.S. Senate, the Commerce Committee recently convened a hearing to bring attention to adult stem cell research. Several senators also used it as an opportunity to talk about the inadequacies of the current federal embryonic stem cell research policy and their strong belief in the need to pursue both avenues of stem cell research
– adult and embryonic.
In other news, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that two more lines were added to the NIH Human Embryonic Stem Cell Registry. The total number of lines that are now available to federally-funded researchers is 21, far less then the 60+ lines envisioned by the Bush administration on August 9, 2001, when its current embryonic stem cell research policy took effect.
|
