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The following is an edited version of an article that is going to appear in the Spring Newsletter of the Parkinson's Support Group of Upstate New York (PSGUNY). Linda Herman suggested that I share it with the listserv. It summarizes the status of embryonic stem cell research (ESR) legislation at the New York State and national levels. NEW YORK STATE Assembly Speaker Silver introduced bill# A6300 which will expand ESR and provide 100 million dollars in funding from the Health Care Recovery Act (HCRA). This bill will most likely pass in the Assembly as have the previous stem cell bills introduced by Mr. Silver. Action is required in the State Senate. On March 1 Senator Nicholas Spano, the second leading Republican, promised to create a bill in the Senate equal to Assembly Speaker Silver's. As of April 20 no such bill has been introduced. In order for New York scientists to move forward on this hope for a cure action must be taken. Many of us Parkinsonians and people with other diseases have written to Senator Spano. We told him about our experiences and emphasized that his bill must be introduced NOW to allow us to obtain our local Senators support for it in this session. Please e-mail Senator Spano by going to www.senate.state.ny.us. Click on Senators, then click on Spano, Nicholas A., then click on e-mail the Senator. NATIONAL HR810 will extend federal funding for ESR beyond the limits imposed by President Bush in 2001. It is expected to be brought to the floor of the House of Representatives for debate soon. If your representative has not signed on as a co-sponsor of the bil please send an e-mail using the following link: http://capwiz.com/pan/issues/alert/?alertID=7092621&type=CO. It will give you a draft e-mail asking them to cosponsor the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005. it will allow you to edit the e-mail to include your own personal experience. If your representative is a cosponsor, edit the draft to thank them. The companion bill in the Senate is S471. One New York Senator (Clinton) is a cosponsor and the other (Schumer) has not signed on yet. OUR ACTIONS MAKE A DIFFERENCE The Parkinsons Unity Walk website (www.unitywalk.com/n_udall.shtml) has an interesting article by Ken Aidekman about the passage of the Morris K. Udall Act of 1997 and what has happened since. Before the Udall Act 25 million dollars was spent by the federal government on Parkinson's research through the National Institutes of health and other agencies. This amounted to $25 per person which was much less than the funding for other diseases. The Udall Act increased funding to $100 million and established Udall Centers of Excellence for Parkinsons Research. Today federal funding is $200 million. The Udall Act passed because members of PSGUNY and other Parkinsonians from across the United States organized letter writing campaigns and contacted the local offices of their representatives and Senators. This proves WE CAN MAKE THINGS HAPPEN. Let's take action to remove the restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn