NEWS: Maryland House Votes To Approve Funding For Stem Cell Research

The Maryland House of Delegates voted yesterday to approve a $23 million a year budget in support of stem cell research. This is hoped to strengthen the Maryland Biotechnology industry, as well as further research into treatments for Parkinson's disease, spinal cord injuries and other debilitating conditions.



The Maryland biotechnology sector is one of the largest biotechnology research areas in the United States. Hopefully, this additional state funding of stem cell research will provide results, and prove to the rest of the country that it can provide a viable and effective means of treatment.

This bill has now passed the Maryland House of Delegates, and goes on to the Maryland Senate, where it is hoped that the margin of approval in the House will give the bill strength in the Senate.

This could be the key needed for major medical breakthroughs in the future.

I feel like doing a dance. This makes me so happy, we have a chance now.

This is fantastic news. I really do think there has to be a happy medium with this whole stem cell issue, and i do feel we should be researching ALL types of stem cells (not just the ones found in aborted fetuses).

stem cells imo could be the next giant leap in medical science and we'd be foolish to ignore it.

This is fantastic....I think this makes (2) states....California and now Maryland which have passed such laws. Are there any other states on the cusp of passing similar legislation? Anyone Know?

Yay! a victory for science and medical progress in the United States!! lets hope we see more of this.

thanks,
drfunk

Yay.

More taxpayer dollars, to fund research, that if it produces a treatment or product, a private pharmaceuticals company or consortium will charge obscene amounts for and make profits beyond the dreams of avarice.

just like here in CA. A state already bankrupted by domestic and social expenditures, blowing money at something which may turn out to be the snake oil of our time. And if it does produce results, just like publicly funded AIDS research, the treatments will still be extremely expensive and the profits not going back to the state, or the taxpayers that funded the research.

If stem cells are such a "sure thing" why is private industry so afraid to gamble their own profits toward research? These companies profit in the billions, but can't seem to justify the risk of investing their own money.

I think they know more about the potential than they let on, and are selling us a pig in a poke.

Originally posted by Phugedaboudet
If stem cells are such a "sure thing" why is private industry so afraid to gamble their own profits toward research? These companies profit in the billions, but can't seem to justify the risk of investing their own money.

I think they know more about the potential than they let on, and are selling us a pig in a poke.

Or Perhaps its because their making squillions as it is and dont need to start working on other things?

Or perhaps, having a girlfriend that works for NIH, who has been constantly frustrated by the lack of availavility of stem cell research in order to find new treatments and possibly cures for existing diseases is the reason that this is important to me. My girlfriend has long been a medical researcher, and has been published in several medical journals with her findings in cancer, arthritis, and West Nile research, among others. She has been working as a researcher and trainer for NIH and NIAID since early August, 2004. On more than a few occasions have I heard her lament about the lack of availability of stem cell research. For her, as a researcher on the "inside", I trust her feelings on the subject. She believes that stem cell research can yield very fruitful results.

She has also calmed my concerns about expensive therapies for diseases, by stating that the expense comes from the massive amounts of money spent in reseach of these cures. Has it ever occured to you that the elapsed time from initial breakthrough to FDA apporval and marketing is often 10 or more years? This time between the breakthrough and release to the public of drugs and treatments is because of extensive testing, to ensure that the drug/treatment is SAFE for you (or anyone else), who are the intended user of this drug/treatment. In that time, research goes through initial phases of development, to animal testing (which often starts with smaller animals such as mice and rats, and progresses over time to larger animals such as pigs and primates), then through initial human trials, and finally to public availability. Treatments discovered through stem cell research must also follow this procedure, to make sure that the treatment isn't more harmful than the ailment.

The only aspect of stem cell research that my girlfriend is currently against is the cloning research, and her reasons are very valid. Until we can understand the workings of the human body and thereby cure all disease, cloning is a pointless pursuit, as it will only add to overpopulation and disease problems.

The fields of stem cell research being funded in this bill ONLY relate to curing or treating disease, and not for cloning research.

Stem cells provide a relatively clean genetic code for researchers, and will aid greatly in curing genetic diseases, as well as finding the reasons that disease occurs in otherwise healthy people. Not only does it provide a means for the potential cures for the diseases that plague us, such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, and others, it also provides a means to perhaps find out WHY we're suceptible to these diseases, and develops means of prevention and immunization against these diseases.

Think about that the next time you feel the urge to protest stem cell research.

As one of the oponants:

I've never had a problem with stem cell research:

1. You get stem cells from umbilical chords. 2. Often, even adults have stem cells you can harvest. 3. If you wait long enough to get one or two stem cells from an embryo, you are less likely to collapse the cell structure and still maintain a viable life.

The problem is they are not going to do this. They are going to harvest/make millions of embryos then destroy them. ..of course, they will at first use all the frozen embryos that are going to waste, but they will start making their own quite quickly. There has been more productive research in stem cells from umbilical chrds and form adults than from embryos. Why can't they just pass laws on using umbilical chords (to the point where you have to sign paperwork to keep it yourself)??? (Speaking in frustration, here; they can't because it's private property....but it's not like the goverment isn't already willing to step all over your toes.) It's just one step further into the treating babies like they are not living. No one would be upset if they'd just quit stepping on conception.