The citizens' initiative is a direct response to recent attempts by some Missouri politicians to pass legislation that would have made Missouri patients guilty of a felony crime for having their diseases and injuries treated with stem cells produced with a promising new technique called Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT). SCNT provides a way to use a patient's own cell and a donated, unfertilized egg to produce stem cells that can turn into and regenerate any type of cell in the human body. Because these stem cells match the patient's genetic makeup, the problem of immune system rejection and the need for finding a genetically matching donor are avoided.

Voter approval of the Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative - by a simple majority vote - will prevent state-level bans of any type of stem cell research and cures allowed under federal law, including those involving adult stem cells and early, or embryonic, stem cells (ES cells) from the SCNT process and from leftover fertility clinic embryos that would otherwise be discarded. The measure will ensure that Missouri patients have access to any stem cell therapies and cures allowed in the U.S. and ensure that Missouri medical institutions can provide and help find those cures. It also creates ethical and safety guidelines for ES cell research conducted in Missouri. And, it resolves concerns about human cloning by strictly banning human reproductive cloning to create babies.

This initiative is sponsored by the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures, a broad-based coalition that includes concerned citizens throughout the state and dozens of patient and medical organizations - including the American Diabetes Association, Christopher Reeve Foundation, Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research (which represents more than 90 patient advocacy, disease and research organizations), Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Parkinson's Action Network, Stowers Institute for Medical Research and Washington University in St. Louis.

"In the coming months, our Coalition will work to collect the voter signatures needed to place the Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative on the November 2006 statewide ballot," said Coalition Chairman Donn Rubin. "Many of the state's top medical experts and medical institutions have joined with local and national patient groups to support this effort. We are confident that the majority of voters will agree that Missouri patients should have access to any stem cell cures that are allowed in this country and available to patients in other states."

Former U.S. Senator John C. Danforth, an Honorary Co-Chair of the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures, noted that the group also includes a number of members of the clergy and other people who are pro-life, including himself.

"I'm pro-life. During my entire career, I voted pro-life," said Sen. Danforth, an Episcopal priest. "I strongly support the Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative because it will save lives and because it respects the sanctity of life. It protects medical research and cures that can save the lives of hundreds of thousands of Missouri children and adults - and it strictly bans human cloning."

In addition to Sen. Danforth, other Honorary Co-Chairs of the Coalition include:

Dr. Michael R. DeBaun, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Washington University School of Medicine and Director of the Sickle Cell Medical Treatment and Education Center at St. Louis Children's Hospital;

Sen. Thomas Eagleton, former U.S. Senator for Missouri and former State Attorney General;

Karen Pletz, J.D., President and CEO of the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences;

Dr. Hugh Stephenson, former Interim Dean and Chief of General Surgery at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine and former President of the University of Missouri System Board of Curators; and

James and Virginia Stowers, Co-Founders of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City.

The overwhelming majority of patient advocacy groups, medical experts and medical organizations agree that all types of stem cell research should be pursued to find new medical cures. More than 50 years of research on adult stem cells has produced such lifesaving treatments as bone marrow transplants for leukemia patients. Now, the new frontier in stem cell research involves ES cells. Medical researchers believe these unique cells have the potential to provide cures for more than 70 devastating diseases and injuries - such as diabetes, Parkinson's, MS, cancer, heart disease, ALS, sickle cell disease and spinal cord injury - that afflict hundreds of thousands of children and adults in Missouri and millions of other Americans.

"As a pediatrician, a father and a Missouri citizen, I wholeheartedly support the Stem Cell Initiative," said Dr. F. Sessions Cole, Director of Newborn Medicine at St. Louis Children's Hospital. "For many of our babies - and for their parents and grandparents - stem cell research offers the greatest hope for lifesaving cures. We must pass this measure to ensure that our children and all Missouri patients will have access to those cures."

"The American Diabetes Association and many other major patient organizations strongly support this vitally important effort to ensure that Missouri patients have access to all future stem cell cures," said Veronica De La Garza, Advocacy Director for the American Diabetes Association, South Central Region. "Each type of stem cell has its own special characteristics and potential to cure different diseases and injuries. Most medical experts agree that SCNT stem cells and stem cells from excess fertility clinic embryos could provide lifesaving cures for medical conditions that can not be cured with adult stem cells, including juvenile diabetes and Type 2 diabetes. Patients in Missouri - and in all states - clearly deserve the right to have equal access to those cures."

"Stem cell research has the potential to provide better treatments and cures for many currently incurable medical conditions, including spinal cord injury, diabetes, Parkinson's and many others," said Michael Manganiello, Senior Vice President of Government Relations for the Christopher Reeve Foundation. "Voter approval of this groundbreaking measure will protect patient access to future therapies and cures that improve and save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Missouri - and provide a model that may be needed in any other states where politicians try to impose state-level bans on stem cell treatments that are permitted by federal law."

Initiative supporters will work to gather the nearly 150,000 voter signatures needed to place the Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative on the November 2006 statewide ballot.

A complete copy of the proposed measure and background information is available on the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures website at http://www.MissouriCures.com.

"Citizens and organizations that support the Stem Cell Initiative can help by signing our petition when they see one of our signature gatherers in their community," said Rubin. "They can also help by joining our coalition. You can join online and get more information by visiting our website or calling us toll-free at 800-829-4133."

This voter information authorized and paid for by the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures, Sandra Aust, Treasurer.

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