{"id":24803,"date":"2010-11-16T08:16:24","date_gmt":"2010-11-16T13:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=24803"},"modified":"2011-05-31T12:39:57","modified_gmt":"2011-05-31T16:39:57","slug":"advocating-for-stem-cell-legislation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2010\/11\/advocating-for-stem-cell-legislation\/","title":{"rendered":"Advocating for Stem Cell Legislation"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<p><\/a>
A researcher works on stem cells at the Stem Cell Institute at the UConn Health Center. UConn scientists and students have been recipients of federal grants for work using human embryonic stem cells and could be significantly affected by a federal court ruling that would limit funding for embryonic stem cell research. Photo by Spencer Platt\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a recent letter<\/a> to congressional leaders, Dr. Cato Laurencin<\/a>, UConn medical school dean and vice president for health affairs, joined more than 100 representatives of the nation\u2019s medical schools and teaching hospitals in calling on Congress to pass the \u201cStem Cell Research Advancement Act.\u201d\u00a0 U.S. medical schools deans, teaching hospital CEOs, and academic society presidents urged action on the legislation, which would continue federal support for human embryonic stem cell research, before the end of the current congressional session in November.<\/p>\n

The letter stated, \u201cThe discovery of human embryonic stem cells is a significant research advance, and federal support to U.S. researchers is essential both to translate this discovery into novel therapies for a range of serious and intractable diseases, and to ensure that this research is conducted under a rigorous and credible ethical regime.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"<p>Senior<\/a>
Senior postdoctoral fellow Xiaofang Wang pulls out frozen stem cells in a lab at the University's Stem Cell Institute. Stem cell research is believed to offer hope in finding treatments for many diseases and illnesses. Photo by Spencer Platt\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The letter went on to say, \u201cThis legislation, which has received strong bipartisan support in previous Congresses, recognizes the need to authorize and continue federal support of research on human embryonic stem cells so that the tremendous scientific and medical benefits of their use may one day become available to the millions of patients who so desperately need them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The effort to pass such a bill has recently taken on some urgency. In August, a federal district court judge found that the Obama administration\u2019s stem cell policy violates a law barring federal financing for \u201cresearch in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death,\u201d and issued an injunction blocking federal money for the research.<\/p>\n

Since then, a federal appeals court has allowed government financing to continue while legal arguments wind their way through the courts. But some researchers have said they are now hesitant to submit grants involving human embryonic stem cells, fearing that their research will not be funded.<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Christopher Murphy (D – 5th District) recently told UConn stem cell scientists that the best opportunity to pass the \u201cStem Cell Research Advancement Act\u201d will be in November before the new, more conservative Congress convenes in January.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Laurencin and other medical education leaders urge Congress to support stem cell legislation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[45],"class_list":["post-24803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-07 18:14:31","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24803"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37055,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24803\/revisions\/37055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24803"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=24803"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=24803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}