¦ April 12, 2007
Senate Bill 5, The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007, Passed
A message from American for Stem Cell Therapies and Cures

Senate Bill 5, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007, passed: 63 to 34. Three supporters of the research did not vote. This is an overwhelming display of bipartisan support for this bill.

The next step is for the House and the Senate to work out the differences between S 5 and HR 3 (the version of the bill passed by the House of Representatives in January) in Conference.

After that, we expect that the President will veto the bill. We take heart in the promises by our champions in Congress that they will keep bringing this legislation to the President until he signs it or until we can achieve a veto override.

Senate Bill 30 also passed: 70 to 28. We believe that the 28 "No" votes are a direct result of the outcry by patient advocates, like yourself, and by the nation's intellectual leaders in medical and scientific research. The 11th hour education made by the pro-cures community convinced almost a third of the Senate to challenge Senate Bill 30. The fact that this measure did not pass unanimously sent a strong message to the anti-embryonic stem cell research Sponsors of this legislation (Senators Coleman and Isakson) that our nation will not sit back and allow this distracting, and potentially damaging piece of legislation go ignored and unchallenged. Thanks to all of you for your efforts.

Letters in opposition to Senate Bill 30 came from all over and included letters from:
Bernie Siegel, Executive Director of the Genetics Policy Institute
Harold Varmus, Nobel Laureate, President of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center on behalf of The American Society for Cell Biology, The American Society for Clinical Investigation, The Genetic Society of America, Science Service, and the Society for Neuroscience
George Daley, of Harvard Medical School, Children's Hospital Boston, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
The International Society of Stem Cell Research.
We faxed those letters to our Senate supporters. In addition, we faxed a letter from our organization's chairman, Bob Klein, to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. We spoke with the offices of many of these Senators today. As expected, many who had planned to vote Yes on S 30 were unaware of the dangers lurking in the legislation. We will work to prevent S 30 from being heard in the House and will turn to you when it is time for that work.

We at Americans for Stem Cell Therapies & Cures appreciate all of your hard work and are grateful to fight at your side!

Be well,
Amy Daly, RN
Executive Director



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