WHEREAS, approximately 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 cost hundreds of billions of dollars every year, in addition to the 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, and cancer, and offers immense promise for developing new medical therapies for these debilitating diseases; 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, stem cell research, including the use of embryonic stem cells for medical research, raises significant ethical, and policy concerns; and

WHEREAS, public policy on stem cell research must balance ethical and medical considerations, and be crafted to ensure that researchers have adequate and appropriate information and ethical tools necessary to fulfill the promise of stem cell research; 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 John A. Burns School of Medicine to establish and head a Task Group to review issues related to stem cell research; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Task Group is requested to:

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Task Group is requested to host a series of public forums relating to stem cell research; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Task Group is requested to submit a report, including 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 a certified copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the Dean of the John A. Burns School of Medicine.

Report Title:

John A. Burns School of Medicine Task Group on Stem Cell Research