STUDENT SOCIETY FOR STEM CELL RESEARCH PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Marion J. Riggs 813.368.8937 mjriggs@ssscr.org

On October 10, 2005, the Student Society for Stem Cell Research is launching the Campaign to Cure Paralysis (C2CP) from spinal cord injury and other disorders by holding Nothing Is Impossible candlelight vigils at campuses throughout the United Sates. The C2CP is a national effort involving SSSCR chapters at leading national universities such as Berkeley, Harvard, Dartmouth, Purdue, and Baylor College of Medicine. The C2CP is a strategic alliance with national patient advocacy organizations, including the Daniel Heumann Fund for Spinal Cord Research, Cure Paralysis Now, Stem Cell Action Network and the Genetics Policy Institute, which promote a rational and ethical framework for stem cell research.

In America, there are 400,000 people with spinal cord injury, 400,000 individuals living with multiple sclerosis, 1 million people with Parkinson’s, and over 5,000 annual diagnosis of ALS. Stem cell research is casting new light on these conditions as treatable. In particular, a recent report from the Associated Press on Aileen Anderson et al’s research demonstrates functional recovery in an animal model of paralysis from spinal cord injury.

It is urgent that the public understands paralysis as a treatable condition that needs society’s commitment to finding a cure. Curing paralysis is the medical challenge of this decade and deserves the same government commitment that occurred in the late 60’s to win the space race and successfully land an American on the moon. It is our patriotic duty to see that a U.S. citizen through American research is the first to get up from a wheel chair after a spinal cord injury.

One year after the passing of Christopher Reeve many roadblocks remain to the research that offers thousands of Americans a promising chance to walk again after confinement to a wheel chair. Lawsuits by opponents to stem cell research have prevented distribution of California state grant money, even though a majority of Californians voted in favor of Proposition 71, which approved 3 billion dollars for a ten year period. The House passed H.R. 810, The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005, but a floor vote in the Senate on the companion bill, S. 471, so far has been prevented. On September 29 in Wisconsin, home to the discovery of embryonic stem cells, the state legislature passed a bill criminalizing a medical technique to derive patient-specific stem cells. In Florida, a 501(c)4 has formed to ban embryonic stem cell research by constitutional amendment, while research in Missouri is being valiantly defended.

This is all to the detriment of our generation’s belief that we will find cures to these conditions. As those in government debate ideology, real lives are hanging in the balance. Roadblocks to funding thwart our education and training to achieve a cure to paralysis and other conditions. Our generation is ready to carry the flame of Christopher Reeve’s dream for a cure to paralysis.

The Student Society for Stem Cell Research is a U.S. based international organization that is dedicated to advancing scientific research for cures. The SSSCR network spans over 100 institutions, 35 states, and 10 countries. SSSCR is a special project of the Genetics Policy Institute and a member of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research.

For more information or to become involved in stem cell advocacy please visit the Student Society for Stem Cell Research at www.ssscr.org, call 813.368.8937, or email info@ssscr.org.

Our future…our world…our responsibility…