DeWine Sponsored Bill to Establish Cord Blood Stem Cell Bank Goes to President

DEWINE SPONSORED BILL TO ESTABLISH CORD BLOOD STEM CELL BANK GOES TO PRESIDENT

U.S. Senator Mike DeWine (R-OH), a member of the Judiciary and the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committees, announced the Stem Cell and Therapeutic Research Act of 2005 (H.R.2520) passed the Senate by unanimous consent. The bill would develop a national network of cord blood stem cell banks to assist in the collection and maintenance of 150,000 cord blood units. The bill now goes to the president for his signature.

"This bill has the potential to literally save lives and help treat people with chronic and potentially fatal diseases," said Senator DeWine, a cosponsor of the Senate version of the bill. "I am proud that Ohioans are on the forefront of research this field. The work being done at Cleveland's Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center on adult stem cells derived from umbilical-cords is making a real difference for families. Adult stem cells have already been used in treating 67 diseases, including sickle cell anemia and leukemia."

The bill would authorize $186 million dollars over a five year period to create adult stem cell banks so that any patient needing cord blood would have a 90 percent chance of finding a suitable match. On average 9,000 Americans, one-third of them children, die every year waiting for bone marrow transplants because there is no matching umbilical cord blood available to them.

Additionally, this bill would help fund the medical use of adult stem cells found in umbilical cord blood. Since the mid-1990's, scientists have used adult stem cells to bolster the immune systems of cancer patients. Research involving adult stem cells is currently being conducted in Ohio at the Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center. In 2004, Senator DeWine, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, helped secure $4.5 million in appropriations funding for Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and the University Hospitals of Cleveland to establish the Center.

http://dewine.senate.gov/