Albany, NY—United Spinal Association will join New Yorkers for the Advancement of Medical Research (NYAMR) on a lobbying trip to the state capital on Monday, February 13, 2006. NYAMR, a coalition in which United Spinal Association is an active member, is comprised of New York State—based health care advocacy groups, university research centers and biotech industry leaders that have joined forces to press for legislation that would affirm and support scientific research involving embryonic stem cells and other DNA therapies.
NYAMR is heading to Albany to urge state legislators to support the inclusion of $100 million in state funding for regenerative medicine, including research involving embryonic stem cells in the final FY 2006-07 State Budget, due April 1, 2006. Joining the group will be members of United Spinal Association who reside in New York State including the Association’s president, Dr. Clair Russell Hesselton (Albany) and executive director, Gerard M. Kelly (Rockland). “Due to the withdrawal of federal support for stem cell research, significant state funding is needed in order to realize the enormous potential stem cell research has to speed progress toward curing paralysis and preventing the secondary complications of spinal cord injury. Upwards of 700,000 people in the United States have some type of spinal cord injury or disease such as multiple sclerosis, and stem cell research has the potential to truly help improve the lives of these Americans,” said Kelly, who is also a member of the New York State Spinal Cord Research Board.
The timing of the event is critical. In late January, Governor Pataki and Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno announced a new Biotechnology and Biomedicine Research Initiative, which did not include or exclude a specific provision for stem cell research. The initiative would create a $200 million challenge grant program that is expected to generate an extra $600 million in federal and private matching funds to expand biotechnology and biomedical research throughout the state. In December 2005, the New York State Assembly passed a more comprehensive bill that includes a specific provision for support of embryonic stem cell research. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is the sponsor of that legislation and has worked with NYAMR on this issue for almost three years.
United Spinal Association has empowered people with spinal cord disabilities for 60 years. The organization helped build the PVA-United Spinal Association Center for Neuroscience and Regeneration Research at Yale University in 1988 and we have contributed millions of dollars over the years to finding a cure for spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis. United Spinal also provides significant annual funding to the Spinal Cord Damage Research Center at the James J. Peters VA Medical Center, where investigators study the impact of a spinal cord injury on other critical body systems.
