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WASHINGTON, DC, December 19, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On Saturday, the House of Representatives voted to pass HR 2520 - the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act - written by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ). The non-controversial legislation had earlier passed the House of Representatives in May by a vote of 431-1 and was slightly altered before passage by the Senate Friday night. The bill will now be signed into law by President Bush. Umbilical cords are a rich, non-controversial source of stem cells. Currently hospitals throw millions of them away each year because the infrastructure required to properly collect and store...

A team of bioengineers led by the University of Toronto has discovered a way to increase the yield of stem cells from umbilical cord blood, to an extent which could broaden therapeutic use of these cells. In a paper published in the October issue of Experimental Hematology, researchers working in the University of Toronto's Stem Cell Bioengineering Laboratory have identified an important component blocking the growth of stem cells. U of T scientists discovered stem cells in 1961, and for about two decades researchers around the world have been searching for a way to expand the number of stem cells...