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Monitoring Stem Cell Research 
prohibit the sale of embryonic or cadaveric fetal tissue for research 
purposes.®^ 
4. Review Committees 
Six states' bills would establish a subcommittee or task 
force to review and/or study issues related to stem cell research.®® 
Some of these states have a bill that only establishes a task force.®^ 
Some states establish this task force, subcommittee, or review board 
within a bill relating to stem cell research.®® Maryland has one of 
each.®® 
It has often been true in the bioethical area that when 
controversial new technologies are introduced, states propose 
commissions to address the issue. ®^ Often, the creation of the 
commission is a stalling tactic to avoid having to confront the issue 
head on or to postpone having to limit a technology, or to facilitate a 
moratorium on the technology (while the Commission evaluates the 
technology). Sometimes, though, state commissions have admirably 
overseen a technology’s development, application and evaluation. 
Such was the case in the 1970’s and 1980’s with Maryland’s newborn 
screening commission. So it is no surprise that of the bills proposing 
a state task force or commission, the Maryland bill provides the best 
guidance about what the commission would do. The Maryland task 
force would: 
CA SB 771; CA SB 1272; IL HB 3589 § 15a; IN HB 1538; IN SB 138; IN SB 
151; MD HB 482 § 20-901; MA HB 1280; MA HB 2052; NJ AB 2840 § c.l; NJ SB 
1909 § c.l; NY AB 1819 § 2453; PA HB 2984 § 6; PA HB 422 § 6; PA HB 945; TN 
HB 945; TN SB 1654; VT HB 326 § 9342; VA HB 2366 (If used in destructive 
research); WA HB 1461 § 5.2; WA SB 5466 § 5.2. 
CA SB 322; CA SB 771 (State department to oversee ESC research); MD HB 
72 (Task force would cover bioscience in general, including ESC research); 
MD HB 1171; MA HB 1280 § 220; MA HB 2052; NY AB 6249 § 4372; NY SB 
3013; PA HB 422 § 4; PA HB 2984 § 4; VA HJR 148; VA HJR 573; VA HB 639 
(Task force would cover all human research in general, including ESC). 
^ See , for example, California, Maryland, and Virginia. 
®® See , for example, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New 
York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, and Vermont. 
MD HB 72; MD HB 1171. 
This was the case, for example, with newborn screening and surrogate 
motherhood. 
PRE -PUBLICATION VERSION 
