The ISSCR applauds President Barack Obama’s decision to expand federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research by rescinding the policy of Aug. 9, 2001, which restricted federally-funded researchers to using only the small number of cell lines created before that date.

The ISSCR, representing the world’s leading stem cell scientists, urges President-Elect Barack Obama to restore federal funding for embryonic stem cell research in the first 100 days of his presidency.

On Tuesday, Michigan voters were asked to support Michigan’s Proposal 2, a state initiative to accelerate medical research and develop new stem cell treatments for currently incurable diseases. The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), representing some of the world’s leading stem cell researchers, along with other leading scientists works to support all types of stem cell research. The vote was 53% in favor and 47% opposed to Proposal 2.

The ISSCR joined with other leading scientists today to issue an open letter to reiterate the urgent need for U.S. support for all types of stem cell research. The Society is the world’s preeminent professional organization of stem cell researchers.

The ISSCR and the ISSCR Government Affairs Committee writes to offer support of your important initiative to amend the constitution of the state of Michigan to permit the derivation of embryonic stem cells from human embryos using approaches that are being used throughout much of the rest of the world.

As representatives of the Board of Directors of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), we urge you to accept the recent recommendations of the German Research Foundation (DFG) regarding revisions to the 2002 Stem Cell Act.

In his State of the Union address, President Bush acknowledged the landmark achievement of stem cell scientists who have demonstrated for the first time that human skin cells can be converted into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells), which behave like embryonic stem cells. The ISSCR applauds the President’s direction to Federal agencies to provide additional funding for this important research.