WHEREAS, an estimated 128,000,000 Americans suffer from the crippling economic and psychological burden of chronic, degenerative, and acute diseases, including diabetes, Parkinson's disease, cancer, and Alzheimer's disease; and

WHEREAS, the costs of treatment and lost productivity of chronic, degenerative, and acute diseases in the United States run into hundreds of billions of dollars every year, and these economic estimates do not account for the extreme cost in human loss and suffering associated with these conditions; and

WHEREAS, stem cell research could lead to unprecedented treatments and potential cures for diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, cancer, and other diseases and offers immense promise for developing new medical therapies for these debilitating diseases; and

WHEREAS, the United States has historically been a haven for open scientific inquiry and technological innovation, and this environment, combined with the commitment of public and private resources, has made the United States the preeminent world leader in biomedicine and biotechnology; and

WHEREAS, the biomedical industry is a critical and growing component of Hawaii's economy, and its development would be significantly hampered by any limitation imposed on stem cell research; and

WHEREAS, publicly funded stem cell research, conducted under established standards of open scientific exchange, peer review, and public oversight, offers the most efficient and responsible means of fulfilling the promise of the use of stem cells in providing regenerative medical therapies; and

WHEREAS, because stem cell research, including the use of embryonic stem cells for medical research, raises significant ethical and policy concerns, public policy on stem cell research must balance ethical and medical considerations; and

WHEREAS, the policy of Hawaii must be based on an understanding of the science associated with stem cell research, grounded on a thorough consideration of the ethical concerns regarding that research, and crafted in a way that researchers will have the scientific and ethical tools necessary to fulfill the promise of stem cell research; and

WHEREAS, much remains unknown about the feasibility of encouraging stem cell research in Hawaii; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2005, that this body requests the Department of Health (DOH) to convene a Stem Cell Research Task Force to study the feasibility of encouraging stem cell research in the State; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that in this study, the Stem Cell Research Task Force is requested to identify and examine the following areas relating to stem cell research in Hawaii:

(1) Ethical factors and guidelines;

(2) Technical and scientific-based components;

(3) Policy and research recommendations; and

(4) Financial resources;

and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that DOH is requested to submit its findings and recommendations for creating stem cell research public policy for the State, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than 20 days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2006; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor and the Director of Health.

Report Title:

A study relating to stem cell research.