mr. speaker , i yield myself such time as i may consume . 
today , mr. speaker , we will consider two bills that have significant bearing on the future of medicine and medical research in our country . 
i want to thank the gentleman from new jersey ( mr. smith ) xz4003801 and the gentleman from texas ( mr. barton ) xz4000180 for their work on the first of these bills . 
the smith-barton legislation reauthorizes the national bone marrow donor program and adds a new national cord blood registry . 
cord blood and bone marrow have several therapeutic uses in common : first and foremost , the treatment of blood diseases . 
coordinating these two registries makes sense for patients , for doctors , and for the public health . 
with this kind of coordinated program , there will be a single entry point for transplant doctors and their patients to locate available cord blood units . 
this bill also increases outreach and education efforts so that we can amass the most diverse possible reserves of cord blood . 
it improves data keeping and distribution so that necessary blood gets to patients as quickly and as accurately as possible . 
in addition to the therapeutic uses of cord blood , this bill makes cord blood stem cells available for research purposes . 
there is clearly therapeutic potential in the use of cord blood and adult stem cells . 
some of the most important research in this area is taking place in ohio , in northeast ohio , where i call home , at the national center for regenerative medicine , a partnership of case western reserve university hospitals , and the cleveland clinic in cleveland . 
i mentioned we will be considering two bills today that have significant bearing on the future of medicine . 
and it is in the research area that the distinctions between these two bills takes on the greatest significance . 
smith-barton focuses on cord-blood and adult stem cell research . 
in the castle-degette bipartisan bill , it focuses on embryonic stem cell research . 
that is a critical distinction , and the house needs to acknowledge that . 
cord-blood and adult stem cell research are not substitutes for embryonic stem cell research . 
they are not alternative avenues to the same medical outcomes . 
each type of research holds unique potential . 
for example , while adult stem cells represent an important advance in the treatment of blood disorders , these cells simply do not occur in every tissue in the body . 
because there are no adult stem cells , for example , in the pancreas , the potential of adult stem cells to develop into therapies for a disease like diabetes is very limited . 
that is one example of many . 
embryonic stem cell , on the other hand , can grow into any type of cell in the body , making potential use of these far more diverse and far more valuable . 
we should not minimize the importance of cord-blood and adult stem cell research , but by the same token , we should n't mislead the public into believing that if smith-barton passes , the castle-degette bill is unnecessary , because surely it is not . 
it is irresponsible and even dangerous for members of this body to distort the value of one form of research in order to stifle another promising avenue of research . 
we in this congress have a responsibility to support medical research and to foster its development , as the committee of the gentleman from texas ( mr. barton ) xz4000180 committee has done well over time . 
millions of lives have been saved and improved because of the brilliant research conducted in this country . 
we also have a responsibility to speak honestly about that research and its potential . 
both sides of this debate owe it to the public to draw clear lines between the beliefs we hold and the facts that hold , regardless of what we believe . 
the fact is that cord-blood research , adult stem cell research and embryonic stem cell research are not interchangeable . 
the fact is , if we invest in all three types of research , we may finally be able to find cures for debilitating illnesses , cures that are currently beyond our reach . 
the fact is , if the u.s. withholds funding for embryonic stem cell research , that research will continue , just at a significantly slower pace . 
people that you and i know , they may be friends , they may be family members , they may be professional colleagues , will suffer and die from potentially curable illnesses while we wait for the rest of the world to fill our shoes . 
researchers in other nations , researchers in private institutions in this country , are pursuing embryonic stem cell research because they know that it is possible to accomplish this research in an ethical manner . 
embryonic stem cell research does not and need not increase the number of embryos that are destroyed . 
instead , it decreases the number of embryos that are destroyed in vain . 
we will have an opportunity today to pass two pieces of legislation , both are important , that will deliver hope to patients whose futures depend on new answers to life and death medical questions . 
our nation can not pick and choose between cord-blood research and adult stem cell research and embryonic stem cell research if we want to answer all these questions , unless we want to offer hope to some and sympathy to others . 
mr. speaker , i urge members to vote in favor of both the smith-barton bill and the castle-degette bill . 
doing so will show that what you know and what you believe intersects at the point where medical progress is harnessed to alleviate untold human suffering . 
mr. speaker , i reserve the balance of my time . 
