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Hi. Does anyone know how to reach this group: Web, e-mail etc.? I would like to know the names of those 70 representatives who are opposing it, and how we can help this new group. I feel strongly that we need to mobilize and help fight for more freedom to continue vital research. Thanks Judith for this important posting! Ann, Palo Alto, CA /////////////// judith richards wrote: > > Coalition to fight for stem cell research > > WASHINGTON, May 21, 1999 (Reuters Health) -- Thirty patient advocacy > groups have formed a coalition in an effort to stop anti-abortion > lawmakers from halting federal funding of stem cell research, it was > announced here on Thursday. > > ``We want to make sure that as the debate goes forward, that we are here > to articulate the needs of patients and their families,'' said Daniel > Perry of the Alliance for Aging Research at a Capitol Hill news > conference to announce the establishment of the Patients' Coalition for > Urgent Research, or CURe. > > The goal of the coalition, whose members include groups ranging from the > American Cancer Society to the Parkinson's Action Network to the > Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, is to educate the public, the > media, and legislators about human pluripotent stem cell research. > > Embryo-derived stem cells are immature cells that can give rise to just > about any type of adult tissue, and are considered a promising avenue of > research for a number of ailments. > > Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services in January > ruled that research using such cells derived from discarded embryos did > not violate Congress's ban on embryo research. At least 70 members of > the House have vowed to seek to overturn that ruling when Congress takes > up the department's annual funding bill late this spring or summer. > > ``The tissue to be used is tissue that is to be discarded anyway, tissue > that is in the process of being thrown away,'' said Dr. Glen McGhee, a > bioethicist from the University of Pennsylvania. ``Stem cell research is > an appropriate kind of research and it is absolutely critical that it be > federally funded'' in order to ensure that it is carried out ethically > McGhee explained. ``Only through oversight can we resist irresponsible > research,'' he said. > > After the press conference, Richard Doerflinger, a representative of the > National Conference of Catholic Bishops commented that most stem cell > research can already proceed with federal funding, including research > that has isolated stem cells from adult bone marrow and fetal tissue. It > is only the research in which the cells are derived from embryos that is > at issue, Doerflinger said. > > Even if the cells are derived without federal funding, ``the language > (of the existing ban) was always intended to deny funding for research > projects in which destruction of a human embryo is a part. What we're > trying to do is not have the federal government promote the destruction > of human embryos,'' he added. > > But Dr. John Gearhart, a Johns Hopkins University researcher who has > pioneered much of the stem cell work, said that all avenues for deriving > the cells need to be pursued. ``It is much too early in this game to > determine which derivation would be better,'' Gearhart said. > > Copyright © 1999 Reuters Limited. > -- > Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada > <[log in to unmask]> > ^^^ > \ / > \ | / Today’s Research > \\ | // ...Tomorrow’s Cure > \ | / > \|/ > ```````