(Washington, DC) Congresswoman Corrine Brown made the following statement:

“I wholeheartedly believe that human stem cells, those capable of developing into virtually any type of body tissue, could help in the development of cures and treatment for a variety of genetic diseases. Indeed, it is well known that if scientists become fully capable of utilizing the regenerative power of stem cells, that they may very well be able to repair damage from such horrible afflictions such as spinal cord injuries, Diabetes (currently the number one killer in the African American community), Parkinson’s disease, ALS, cancer, and numerous others, such as Lupus, which my dear cousin Shirley passed away from at a very young age.

What this bill does in effect, is expand on current federal policy, which restricts federally funded research on embryonic stem cell lines created before August 9, 2001, to provide that stem cell lines shall be eligible for federally funded research regardless of the date on which they were derived. Under this bill, stem cell lines would be eligible for federal research only if they meet the following requirements: 1) the stem cells were derived from human embryos that have been donated from in vitro fertilization clinics, were created for the purposes of fertility treatment, and were in excess of the clinical need of the individuals seeking such treatment; 2) prior to the consideration of embryo donation and through consultation with the individuals seeking fertility treatment, it was determined that the embryos would never be implanted in a woman and would otherwise be discarded; and 3) the individuals seeking fertility treatment donated the embryos with written informed consent and without receiving any financial or other inducements to make the donation.

To conclude, I categorically believe that it is absolutely essential to expand the number of stem cell lines that can be used in federally funded research to accelerate scientific progress toward treatments for the aforementioned diseases. The bill provides a change in our current policy that would result in making many more lines of stem cells available for research, and would do so under strict ethical guidelines, as I outlined above. To me, increased stem cell research will provide hope for the millions of people suffering from diseases that may be treated or even cured.”