Stem Cells

July 17, 2006

As you no doubt know, there is quite a bit going on vis-à-vis stem cells this week. The Senate is engaged in debate over a trio of stem cell related bills.

S. 2754 – Alternative Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapies Enhancement Act, would provide funding to explore attempts to derive or otherwise obtain stem cells with the same degree of “flexibility” (pluripotentcy) as embryonic stem cells, but — and here’s the key — not involve the destruction of human embryos. President Bush supports this bill.

S. 3504 – Fetus Farming Prohibition Act of 2006, would prohibit the gestation of fetuses for the purpose of ultimately deriving stem cells that are somewhat differentiated. If this seems a bit far-fetched, then you haven’t read William Saletan’s “The Organ Factory.” President Bush supports this bill.

H.R. 810 – Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, would expand federal funding for research with embryos from IVF clinics. President Bush has promised to veto this bill.

A great deal of work has been going on at stemcellresearch.org. The scoreboard has been updated to reflect the fact that there are now 72 diseases and conditions that are benefiting from adult stem cells and 0 diseases and conditions that are benefiting from embryonic stem cells (full list here). In addition, the list of sample references has been updated, and all of the references are from peer-reviewed journals.

Yes, this list has been the subject of some controversy, and DoNoHarm has responded to the controversy.

Stay tuned.