The U.S. Congress has also considered a number of bills relating to forms of stem cell research discrete from studies that involve the use of human embryos. Such bills have generally met with greater success than those focusing on embryonic stem cell research. An example is the Stem Cell Therapeutic Research Act of 2005 (H.R. 2520), introduced by Representative Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.) on May 23, 2005. The bill requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to “enter into one-time contracts with qualified cord blood stem cell banks to assist in the collection and maintenance of 150,000 units of high-quality human cord blood to be made available for transplantation through the C. W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program.” (The C. W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program is a program named after U.S. Representative C. W. Bill Young (R-Fla.), who was instrumental in creating the U.S. bone marrow donor registry program in 1986. The program is described in section 379 of the Public Service Act, 42 U.S.C. 274l.)
H.R. 2520 passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 431-1 on May 24, 2005, and by the Senate on December 16, 2005. The bill was signed into law by President George W. Bush on December 20, 2005, and has become Public Law 109–129.
