On April 10 and 11, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held its first hearings on embryonic stem cell research. 

The transcript of what was said is not yet available. But the briefing document provided to the public is not at all reassuring.  On the contrary, it seems to politicize the research and may  even threaten to place manacles upon it.

There’s a good discussion of what is at stake here on Don Reed’s blog: www.stemcellbattles.com.  Don is keeping his eye on this (and on so many other matters of urgent interest to patients!), and I expect he’ll tell us about any new developments.

We in the Stem Call Action network are rethinking and reorganizing what we’re doing.

We certainly recognize that there’s a lot to be done!

For one thing, in an election year, we’d like voters to be well-informed about where the candidates stand on stem cell research issues. 

We’re hoping that government — statewide as well as nationwide — will really get on board with this research that holds promise to remedy or even cure so many severe illnesses and injuries.

We’re alarmed, though, by some recent developments, including the FDA hearings earlier this month.  We’ll post a blog entry on that subject shortly.

Please join us at State of Stem Cell Advocacy 2008 (SOSCA) on April 12-13, 2008. This conference will take place at the University of California, San Francisco at the Mission Bay Campus Community Center. Advocates will learn about recent progress towards cures in several disease areas, how key federal and state programs are funded, and what they can do to make their voices heard. This series of workshops will provide specific actions that patients and advocates can take to accelerate research and cures.

Kicking off this event is Robert Klein, who led the fight for Proposition 71. In November 2004 the successful passage of Proposition 71 created the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, granting $3 billion in research funding to California institutions. The conference will also feature Michael J. Fox, actor and advocate, and Brock Reeve, Executive Director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and brother of Christopher Reeve.

You can find out more about this conference at SOSCA.