WASHINGTON (June 24, 2004) -- A press conference conducted today by Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) featured women with severe spinal cord injuries who have been treated with adult stem cells. Laura Dominguez was a quadriplegic at 16 after a car accident severely damaged her spinal cord, but after treatment using her own olfactory sinus stem cells Laura can now walk with the aid of braces. A car accident also left Susan Fajt paralyzed, but she, too, can walk with braces today because of experimental new adult stem cell treatment.

"These brave young women give a human face to the fight for ethical stem cell research," said Cathy Cleaver Ruse, Esq., spokesperson for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities. "They are a powerful witness against the embryonic research PR machine."

Adult stem cells and other ethically acceptable alternatives have already helped hundreds of thousands of patients, and new clinical uses expand almost weekly. In fact, non-embryonic cell therapies have quickly moved forward to perform many of the tasks once thought to be possible only with embryonic stem cells.

"These and other inspiring breakthroughs in the area of adult stem cell research show the power of ethical research -- and its beauty." said Ruse.

"There is an ugliness to embryonic stem cell research that even its proponents cannot hide," Ruse added. "When we decide to subjugate one vulnerable class of human beings for service of another, we are all diminished."

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