I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3144 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for a program at the 
National Institutes of Health to conduct and support research in the 
derivation and use of human pluripotent stem cells by means that do 
not harm human embryos, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 30, 2005 
Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland (for himself, Mr. GINGREY, Mr. BLUNT, Ms. 
PRYCE of Ohio, Mr. BEAUPREZ, Mr. GUTKNECHT, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr. 
OSBORNE, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. CULBERSON, Mr. WELLER, Mr. ROHR-
ABACHER, Mr. PRICE of Georgia, Mr. HEFLEY, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. 
ENGLISH of Pennsylvania, Mr. CANNON, Mr. GILCHREST, and Mr. DEAL 
of Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for 
a program at the National Institutes of Health to con-
duct and support research in the derivation and use 
of human pluripotent stem cells by means that do not 
harm human embryos, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Respect for Life 
Pluripotent Stem Cell Act of 2005’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) Stem cells may be derived from various 
sources, including adult tissue, umbilical cord blood, 
and living human embryos. The use of cells from 
embryos has drawn great interest in the scientific 
community but also raises very serious ethical con-
cerns for many Americans, because as practiced 
today it requires the destruction of human embryos 
to obtain their cells. 
(2) The President’s Council on Bioethics in its 
May 2005 White Paper: ‘‘Alternative Sources of 
Pluripotent Stem Cells,’’ describes several potential 
methods to derive stem cells like those now derived 
through the destruction of embryos, but which would 
not involve doing harm to embryos. Some methods 
propose to involve embryos in ways that do not harm 
them, while others propose to reprogram adult cells 
to produce cells with the capabilities of embryonic 
stem cells without producing or involving embryos at 
all. 
(3) Such proposals should be thoroughly tested 
in animal models before being applied to humans, to 
establish that they do not involve creating or harm-
ing human embryos.
(4) Several scientific reports also suggest that 
some subclasses of adult stem cells (derived from 
postnatal tissues, umbilical cord blood and placenta) 
show a flexibility comparable to that of stem cells 
now derived through the destruction of embryos. 
(5) American scientists should be encouraged to 
pursue all ethical avenues of stem cell research and 
to explore morally uncontroversial alternatives to re-
search requiring the destruction of human embryos. 
SEC. 3. DERIVATION OF STEM CELLS WITHOUT HARMING 
EMBRYOS; RESEARCH THROUGH NATIONAL 
INSTITUTES OF HEALTH. 
Part B of title IV of the Public Health Service Act 
(42 U.S.C. 284) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘SEC. 409J. BASIC AND APPLIED RESEARCH ON DERIVA-
TION 
AND 
USE 
OF 
PLURIPOTENT 
STEM 
CELLS WITHOUT HARMING EMBRYOS. 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 
definitions apply: 
‘‘(1) HUMAN EMBRYO.—The term ‘human em-
bryo’ includes any organism, not protected as a 
human subject under 45 CFR 46 as of the date of 
the enactment of the Respect for Life Pluripotent 
Stem Cell Act of 2005, that is derived by fertiliza-
tion, parthenogenesis, cloning, or any other means 
from one or more human gametes or human diploid 
cells. 
‘‘(2) PLURIPOTENT
STEM
CELL.—The term 
‘pluripotent stem cell’ means a cell that can in prin-
ciple be differentiated to produce all or almost all 
the cell types of the human body, and therefore has 
the same functional capacity as an embryonic stem 
cell, regardless of whether it has the same origin. 
‘‘(b) IN GENERAL.—With respect to producing stem 
cell lines for important biomedical research, the Director 
of NIH shall, through the appropriate national research 
institutes, provide for the conduct and support of basic 
and applied research in isolating, deriving and using 
pluripotent stem cells without creating or harming human 
embryos. Such research may include— 
‘‘(1) research in animals to develop and test 
techniques for deriving cells from embryos without 
doing harm to those embryos; 
‘‘(2) research to develop and test techniques for 
producing human pluripotent stem cells without cre-
ating or making use of embryos; and 
‘‘(3) research to isolate, develop and test 
pluripotent stem cells from postnatal tissues, umbil-
ical cord blood, and placenta.
‘‘(c) PROHIBITIONS REGARDING HARM TO HUMAN 
EMBRYOS.—Research under subsection (b) may not in-
clude any research that— 
‘‘(1) involves the use of human embryos; or 
‘‘(2) involves the use of stem cells not otherwise 
eligible for funding by the National Institutes of 
Health; or 
‘‘(3) involves the use of any stem cell to create 
or to attempt to create a human embryo, or 
‘‘(4) poses a significant risk of creating a 
human embryo by any means. 
‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the 
purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized 
to be appropriated $15,000,000 in fiscal year 2006, and 
such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 
2007 through 2010. Such authorization is in addition to 
other authorizations of appropriations that are available 
for such purpose.’’. 
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