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April 5, 2005
TRAVIS ROY URGES MASSACHUSETTS LAWMAKERS TO SUPPORT STEM CELL RESEARCH
Proposed bill would make state a "safe haven" for embryonic stem cell research
Boston, MA -- Travis Roy joined a strong contingent of supporters on Beacon Hill to urge Massachusetts lawmakers to adopt legislation that would make the state a "safe haven" for embryonic stem cell research.
The May 1, 2003 hearing before three committees of the Massachusetts legislature was the first debate on the bill, which was sponsored by Senator Cynthia S. Creem (D-Newton). If enacted, it would give government approval to research already being done in Massachusetts, including that involving Somatic Cellular Nuclear Transfer (SCNT), also known as "therapeutic cloning". SCNT would allow a patient's own genetic material to be used to develop advanced stem cell therapies therefore reducing the likelihood that the patient's immune system would attack and reject the therapy. The Massachusetts legislation would prohibit reproductive cloning. Similar legislation has already been passed in California and is pending in several other states.
Stem cells can, theoretically, develop into any type of human tissue and could hold the answers that lead to treatments and cures for a wide array of illnesses and injuries including juvenile diabetes and cancer and such Central Nervous System (CNS) diseases and disorders as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Multiple Sclerosis, ALS, and spinal cord injuries.
Roy, who was paralyzed from the shoulders down October 20, 1995 just 11 seconds into his first college hockey game at Boston University, was one of many individuals living with debilitating diseases and injuries who spoke of the hope offered by stem cells.
"The bottom line for me is that stem cell research is going to lead to a cure for me and for people with Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, all sorts of neurological diseases," he said. "The decision being made on this issue will determine whether I'm in this wheelchair years longer than I could be."
Roy was joined by a wide array of academics, industry experts and others in urging the lawmakers to support the promise of stem cell research.
"Whenever you hear people talk about curing paralysis, you always hear the same words: to walk again," he said. "But it's so much more than that. It's to feel again, to have control of bowel and bladder again. It's to have sensation and to have normal sexual functioning. Stem cells are my biggest hope for walking again."
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Press coverage of 5/1/03 hearings:
Roy Asks for Chance to Walk Again with Stem Cell Research (Boston Herald, 05-02-03)
Debating Stem Cell 'Safe Haven' (Boston Globe, 05-02-03)
(WHDH-TV 7 Boston online, 05-01-03)
(NECN newscast segment, 05-01-03)
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