mr. speaker , i thank the gentleman for yielding me time . 
i commend the gentleman from new jersey ( mr. smith ) xz4003801 for his visionary legislation , the stem cell research act . 
there is such enormous promise , mr. speaker , in adult stem cell research , the ethical research that has been under way for decades and has produced to date treatments to nearly 67 diseases including sickle cell , leukemia , osteoporosis , just to name a few . 
even last october , a korean woman who had been paralyzed for 19 years took a few steps for reporters in seoul with the aid of a walker and ethical adult cord blood stem cells injected into her spine . 
i just spoke today to a young man in my congressional district who was injured last saturday night and now faces a lifetime in a wheelchair . 
i can tell you , having spoken to his parents , i would do anything to help that brave young man out of that chair . 
i would do anything except fund the destruction of human embryos for research . 
president kennedy said : `` to lead is to choose '' and today congress will choose and should choose to promote ethical healing by adopting the stem cell research act , to prevent the erosion of the principle that all human life , even embryonic human life , is sacred . 
say `` yes '' to ethical adult stem cell research and `` no '' to funding the destruction of human embryos for scientific advancement . 
