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Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007

Date: Jan. 11, 2007
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Stem Cell Research


STEM CELL RESEARCH ENHANCEMENT ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - January 11, 2007)

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Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlelady from Colorado for her efforts on this issue which are so important to America.

Mr. Speaker, when I think of stem cell research, I think of Ronald Reagan slumbering through the twilight of his life with Alzheimer's, and I think of Christopher Reeve, Superman, laid low by paralysis and the host of physical ailments that accompany paralysis. Those are images we all share in our national consciousness.

When I think of my father's struggles with Alzheimer's, I think how science might one day through stem cell research find a way to prevent others from suffering as he did and as my mother did as his caretaker.

Many people like to frame the stem cell debate as pro-life and pro-choice. For Ronald Reagan and Christopher Reeve, the question was a matter that they had no choice in. And for each public face of a political leader or a movie star, there are thousands of ordinary citizens like my father who suffer daily from diseases for which there are no cures.

My hometown, Memphis, Tennessee, is the proud home of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. St. Jude is the patron saint of forgotten and impossible causes. Saint Jude's Hospital has given hope where no hope existed. It has made possible the impossible. This is because St. Jude is a research hospital focused on medical advancement.

Let us each remember that science is our friend, not our foe, and we must embrace science. The issue of stem cell research should not be a political football tossed about with callous disregard for the very real suffering of people with Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, spinal cord injuries, cancer, stroke, burns, heart disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. We must not tie the hands of scientists and physicians with the bureaucracy and red tape. We must commit ourselves to the health of our citizenry. Like St. Jude, we must remember the forgotten, and we must have the vision to see possibilities in what appears impossible.

I ask all of my Members to join in voting for this bill.

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