Speaker/Position/Organization Daniel Perry, Past President (2004-2005) and Current Vice President,Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research (CAMR), USA – Executive Director Alliance for Aging Research Washington, DC
Session: Stem Cell Science and Policies (Part I) Friday, Feb. 17, 8:30 AM
Title: “Regenerative Medicine Under Attack in America: How Scientists and Patients Are Responding�?

Regenerative medicine is a young field of medical research that seeks to harness the building blocks of human biology – stem cells, signaling molecules, antibodies and growth factors – to repair damage done by disease, injury or the wear and tear of aging. And for nearly a decade, conservative and sectarian groups in the United States have encouraged lawmakers to condemn and to criminalize important aspects of regenerative medicine and its research goals. Research with potential to relieve human suffering has become a pawn in the polarizing American fight over abortion rights and in sectarian debates over the legal and moral status laboratory-made human embryos. Similar controversies have erupted in other countries and have been carried all the way to the United Nations General Assembly. However, determined efforts by the Bush Administration to severely limit embryonic stem cell research in the U.S., and to seek a global ban at the U.N. against cell nuclear transfer experiments, bear examination in this session. This presentation will also describe a “pro cures movement�? of leading disease-specific and patient groups, by scientific organizations and major American universities. Strategies and tactics that have succeeded thus far in preventing adoption of federal criminal penalties against regenerative medicine research will be discussed and evaluated.