Joins broad coalition working to protect patient rights in Missouri
NEW YORK, Dec. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
(JDRF), the world's leading charitable supporter of research into type 1
diabetes and its complications, today announced its endorsement of the
Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative. The Initiative, a voter
referendum measure expected to appear on the November 2006 state ballot,
protects the right of Missouri patients to be treated with any
federally-approved stem cell cures.
The Initiative also ensures that Missouri medical institutions can conduct
stem cell research allowed under federal law, and it creates ethical and
safety guidelines for stem cell research - including a strict ban on human
cloning or any attempt to clone a human being.
"JDRF is pleased to endorse efforts to ensure that any treatments or
therapies derived from stem cell research will be available to people with
diabetes in Missouri," said Peter Van Etten, President and CEO of JDRF. "The
people of Missouri should be able to take full advantage of any therapies
derived from stem cell research without fear of breaking the law. It's equally
important that the world-class medical research institutions in Missouri be
allowed to fully explore the potential of stem cell research that we hope will
lead to new treatments and therapies-and perhaps one day a cure-for a wide
range of diseases, including type 1 diabetes."
The Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative was developed in
response to repeated attempts by some Missouri politicians to pass state
legislation that would ban and criminalize stem cell research involving a
procedure known as SCNT.
SCNT is a technology that uses a patient's own cell and a donated,
unfertilized human egg to create stem cells in a lab dish. These stem cells
have the potential to turn into and regenerate any type of cell in the human
body and will automatically match the patient's genetic make-up, thus avoiding
the need for a genetic donor match.
JDRF (http://www.jdrf.org) was founded in 1970 by the parents of children with
juvenile diabetes -- a disease that strikes children suddenly, makes them
insulin dependent for life, and carries the constant threat of devastating
complications. Since inception, JDRF has provided more than $900 million to
diabetes research worldwide. More than 80 percent of JDRF' expenditures
directly support research and education about research. JDRF's mission is
constant: to find a cure for diabetes and its complications through the
support of research.
SOURCE Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
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Related links:
http://www.jdf.org
CONTACT:
Peter Cleary, National Director of News Media
Relations, +1-212-479-7553, or cell, +1-917-574-6993, or
pcleary@jdrf.org
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