Stem Cell Research Status - Blase Biello

It's safe to say that stem cell research has come a significantly long way, considering it had absolutely no funding before the 21st century. In fact, 
a breakthrough operation has just taken place marking a huge step in the progression of stem cell research. 

Richard Grosjean (seen above) suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and he has become the first person "to be injected with stem cells in the upper part of the spinal cord". His operation actually happened this Monday (11/21/11), and as of right now, everything went successfully. The operation was basically to make sure that it is safe to use stem cells and wont cause any further damage. However, since stem cell usage is fairly, this is a HUGE step. You can read the full article here. (http://bit.ly/w5dFWD via CNN)

As of this year, 2011, the status of my issue at legislature is still shaky, as of right now, U.S. Republican Diana DeGette has introduced The Stem Cell Research Advancement Act of 2011 (H.R. 2376). She introduced this act on June 24, 2011 but unfortunately it has not yet been reported by Committee.  Many officials have supported stem cell research and actually the act proposed by DeGette has 19 Cosponsors backing it. It would be an understatement to say that stem cell research gets substantial media exposure. In fact, it's one of the hottest topics right now - and will definitely be a highly debated topic around election time in 2012. There are many opponents of stem cell research usually coming from religious groups and anti-abortion groups, that have definitely done their part to slow the roll in passage of full stem cell research funding. Although, this specific act has not yet been passed into law, many states have still authorized funding for stem cell research under President Obama's Executive Order 13505 (Removing Barriers to Responsible Scientific Research Involving Human Stem Cells). 
A list of the states' activity can be found here : http://bit.ly/rEUVlJ
Further following of H.R. 2376  here : http://bit.ly/v1QmEh
More info on H.R. 2376 here : http://bit.ly/kz67kU
More info on opponents : http://fxn.ws/9zYV4i
More info on EO (Federal Policy) : http://1.usa.gov/tyTU1x



After reading the Health Law Institute's (University of Alberta) Health Law Review, written by Robin Downey and Rose Geransar, I've learned more about the stakeholders of stem cell research (SCR). According to these authors, who I couldn't agree more with, the main stakeholders of SCR are the medical patient groups who stay affiliated with the medical community. Also, the scientists who work with stem cells are some of the main stakeholders. But, who we really need to back full funding for stem cell research, is the politicians in the House of Representatives and the Senate. The more support, the quicker the bill (H.R. 2376) gets passed into federal law. But, with Obama's federal policy, stem cell research is fairly active. 
Read full Health Law Review : http://bit.ly/sAuCYl


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