Stem Cell Research is Key in Milken State of State Conference – Human Cloning Foundation

The Human Cloning Foundation hailed the inclusion of stem cell research in the agenda for discussion during the 7th annual Milken Institute State of the State Conference, an event that has become the leading forum on California.

The event, to be held on Monday (October 31), will bring together more than 500 business and public policy leaders at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Aside from stem cell research, the other key issues listed on the agenda are housing and immigration. Antonio Villaraigosa, Mayor of Los Angeles, is the keynote speaker.

"Clearly, event organizers recognize the vast medical and health care potential of stem cell research in the future of California," said David Madrigal, HCF spokesman. "We hope this important gathering is able to address the need for granting state legislation and funding that support stem cell research, which is the next step in developing what could be the next great medical breakthrough of our time."

Madrigal said the boundaries that divide scientists and ethicists on the subject of stem cell research are beginning to crumble. Opponents of stem cell research believe that destroying an embryo to produce stem cells is morally wrong, but two recent studies by Massachusetts scientists show that stem cells can be produced without harming the embryo.

In the first study, Alexander Meissner and Rudolf Jaenisch of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research provided the first definitive evidence that embryonic stem cells could be grown in laboratory dishes without harming healthy embryos. The second study, conducted by an Advanced Cell Technology team headed by Dr. Robert Lanza, used a single cell taken from a mouse embryo when it only had eight cells and cultivated this into a full batch of embryonic stem cells. The remaining seven-cell embryo "developed to term without a reduction in their developmental capacity," said the study.

Contact: David Madrigal
www.humancloning.org
humancloning.david@gmail.com