IV
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. RES. 414
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives supporting Federal
funding directed toward human pluripotent stem cell research to further
research into Parkinson’s disease and other medical conditions.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 2, 2000
Mrs. MALONEY of New York (for herself and Mrs. MORELLA) submitted the
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives sup-
porting 
Federal 
funding 
directed 
toward 
human
pluripotent stem cell research to further research into
Parkinson’s disease and other medical conditions.
Whereas Parkinson’s disease is a relentlessly progressive de-
generative disease which kills a specialized and vital type
of brain cell, a brain cell which produces a substance,
dopamine, that is essential for normal movement and bal-
ance;
Whereas the loss of these dopamine-producing cells causes
symptoms, including slowness and paucity of movement,
tremor, stiffness, and difficulty walking and balancing,
rendering the afflicted person incapable of carrying out
the normal activities of daily living;
•HRES 414 IH
Whereas in 30 percent of Parkinson’s disease patients, a de-
mentia occurs that is similar to Alzheimer’s disease;
Whereas Parkinson’s disease worsens over time, inflicting a
horrific physical, emotional, and financial burden on the
patient and family, requiring a caregiver to assist in the
activities of daily living, and may eventually lead to place-
ment in a nursing home until death;
Whereas Parkinson’s disease affects one million Americans—
one percent of the population over age 60 and two per-
cent of the population over age 70;
Whereas 50,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson’s
disease each year—six Americans per hour;
Whereas for each American with Parkinson’s disease who is
diagnosed, there are two who have Parkinson’s disease
but are not diagnosed—two million Americans with Par-
kinson’s disease who are undiagnosed—two percent of
the population over age 60 and four percent of the popu-
lation over age 70;
Whereas Parkinson’s disease costs the Federal Government
approximately $10 billion each year in medicare, med-
icaid, hospital, and nursing home outlays;
Whereas on average, medications, doctor visits, physical ther-
apy, and hospital stays cost each patient $5,000 per year;
Whereas as a society, we spend $15 billion a year on Parkin-
son’s disease—without considering the indirect costs of
lost income, missed opportunities, and family disruptions;
Whereas those $15 billion result in treatments that bring
only temporary relief—allowing patients to live longer
only to develop the more disabling and untreatable Alz-
heimer’s-like dementia;
•HRES 414 IH
Whereas the ability to generate specialized cells, such as the
dopamine-producing cells that are lost in Parkinson’s dis-
ease, will allow us to learn how to generate the special-
ized cells that are lost in other crippling, devastating, and
heretofore untreatable conditions of the nervous system,
such as Alzheimer’s disease, brain injury, birth defects,
spinal cord injury, stroke, muscular dystrophy, and Lou
Gehrig’s disease;
Whereas the ability to generate specialized cells that are lost
in diseases of the nervous system will also allow us to
learn how to generate the specialized cells that are lost
in such devastating disorders as heart disease, lung dis-
ease, kidney disease, liver disease, diabetes, AIDS, sickle-
cell anemia, and arthritis;
Whereas this research will be carried out with human
pluripotent stem cells, primitive cells that are the fore-
runners of the specialized cells that are lost in many of
the currently incurable diseases;
Whereas stem cells, unlike the specialized cells they replace,
can be refitted, reprogrammed, and rearranged to repro-
duce lost function;
Whereas human pluripotent stem cell research may solve the
problem of graft rejection (that is, the body’s reaction
against foreign tissue), resulting in dramatic improve-
ments in the treatment of a number of life-threatening
conditions, such as burns and kidney failure, for which
transplantation is currently used;
Whereas human pluripotent stem cell research may provide
safer and more effective ways to test drugs without ex-
perimenting on humans or animals;
•HRES 414 IH
Whereas Federal funds are crucial to allow scientists to pro-
ceed with stem cell research and to exploit fully this
novel, innovative, and ground-breaking technology; and
Whereas according to the Department of Health and Human
Services, research utilizing human pluripotent stem cells
does not violate the ban on Federal funding of human
embryo research in section 511 of the Departments of
Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and
Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999 (as contained
in section 101(f) of division A of Public Law 105–277)
(112 Stat. 2681–386), because such stem cells are not
embryos: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives supports
Federal funding directed toward human pluripotent stem
cell research to further research into Parkinson’s disease
and other medical conditions.
Æ