By
Donald Zuhn --
On
Tuesday, Representative Diana DeGette (D-CO) introduced legislation (H.R. 4808)
that would amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for human embryonic
stem cell research. H.R. 4808
would codify President Obama's Executive Order 13505, which permitted federal
funding of research conducted with human embryonic stem cell lines. It was therefore fitting that the bill
was introduced on the one-year anniversary of the President's reversal of
limits imposed by the Bush Administration on embryonic stem cell research (see "President Obama to Lift Stem
Cell Limits on Monday" and "President Obama Reaffirms Faith in Science").
Rep.
DeGette and bill co-sponsor Rep. Michael Castle (R-DE), who joined the
President for last year's announcement concerning the stem cell Executive Order,
introduced two stem cell bills (H.R. 872
and H.R. 873)
in the House last year. While the
text of the new bill has not yet been made available, both Rep. DeGette and Rep. Castle issued
press releases regarding the legislation.
In
Rep. DeGette's press release,
the Congresswoman said the Stem Cell Research Advancement Act would
"ensure a lasting ethical framework overseeing stem cell research at the
National Institutes of Health."
Rep. DeGette (at right) noted that since President Obama issued his Executive Order,
the NIH had approved 43 stem cell lines.
According to the Congresswoman's press release, H.R. 4808 would provide strong
ethical requirements for embryonic stem cell research, require the NIH to
maintain guidelines on all human stem cell research and review those guidelines
at least every three years, ban the use of federal funding for human cloning
under the NIH guidelines, and require a biennial report to Congress on stem cell
research.
In his own press release, Rep.
Castle (at left) stated that he "continue[s] to share in the view of so many
scientists that stem cell research holds great promise for alleviating the
suffering of the 100 million American patients living with devastating diseases
for which there are no good treatments or cures." While noting that "[t]he
President's Executive Order lifted restrictions that allowed important research
to move forward," Rep. Castle contended that "Congress must act to
ensure that an over-arching ethical framework is signed into law."
Other
co-sponsors of the bill include Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Lois Capps (D-CA),
Russ Carnahan (D-MO), Charles Dent (R-PA), Gene Green (D-TX), Mark Kirk (R-IL),
James Langevin (D-RI), and Ed Perlmutter (D-CO). On Wednesday, H.R. 4808 was referred to the House Committee
on Energy and Commerce, where Rep. DeGette is the Vice Chair and Rep. Baldwin,
Capps, and Green are members.
ple\se USA hurry up with stem cell research
i live in scotland and have a horrible illness called idiopathic axonal peripheral neuropathy where there is no research cure or treatment every day i look to USA for a cure
Posted by: caroline carr-locke | March 12, 2010 at 03:09 AM
Good intent, but bad idea. As said by Broderr, "If you had demanded that the N.I.H. solve the problem of polio not through independent, investigator-driven discovery research but by means of a centrally directed program, the odds are very strong that you would get the very best iron lungs in the world -- portable iron lungs, transistorized iron lungs -- but you wouldn't get the vaccine that eradicated polio."
Posted by: Prior Art | March 15, 2010 at 08:57 AM