CHICAGO, /PRNewswire/ -- State Senator Jeffrey Schoenberg (D-9th District) was joined by House Minority Leader Tom Cross (R-84th District) and health care advocates today to rename the Stem Cell Research Act (House Bill 3589) to honor the memory of former President Ronald Reagan.

House Bill 3589 will now be known as the Ronald Reagan Biomedical Research Act Former President Reagan died last week after a protracted ten-year battle with Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's is one of the many devastating illnesses that medical researchers believe will benefit from embryonic stem cells.

The bill before the Illinois legislature specifically permits embryonic stem cell research and therapeutic applications in Illinois and establishes review of this research by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

President Reagan's widow, former First Lady Nancy Reagan, has been an outspoken proponent in favor of embryonic stem cell research because of its promising medical potential. Her advocacy has reinvigorated the call for expanded research in this field.

"I was inspired by Nancy Reagan's heartfelt and compelling call for embryonic stem cell research and the agony that both she and former President Reagan faced with his disease," said Schoenberg, the chief sponsor of the legislation. Representative Sara Feigenholtz (D-12th District) is the chief sponsor in the House.

"Since this bill passed the House last spring, we have made real progress towards helping researchers find cures to many serious diseases and conditions. Illinois is home to premier medical research institutions and it pains me to export talented researchers and millions of dollars in funding to other states and countries," added Schoenberg.

Leader Cross, whose daughter suffers from juvenile diabetes -- one of the many illnesses that could benefit from embryonic stem cell research -- also spoke out in favor of the Ronald Reagan Biomedical Research Act.

"We need to put partisan politics aside and focus on the real help we can bring to people all over Illinois. In the spirit of former President Reagan, I urge my colleagues to pass this critical legislation -- legislation that could save millions of lives," Cross said.

Joining the legislators were Andres Gallegos and Jenny Knauss. Gallegos suffers from a spinal cord injury and Knauss is in the early stages of Alzheimer's. Both spoke about the need for embryonic stem cell research to aid their conditions.

"The diseases and conditions that may be treated or cured by stem cells do not discriminate. Any one of us may become paralyzed in an instant, or suffer a long, agonizing decline into the misery of living with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes, or ALS," said Gallegos, founder of Illinois in Motion. "'Trust, but verify,' was a mantra of President Reagan. We have to trust the oversight built into this legislation to ensure that the research will be conducted in a responsible and ethical manner. We need now for our legislature to speak for those who cannot speak themselves and who, through no fault of their own, are now or will become imprisoned in their own bodies."

Knauss added, "Those of us who are living now with Alzheimer's know our destiny. And thus we know -- as only we can know -- how unforgivably cruel it would be to cause others to have to share our fate if only because research and funding is not permitted on potential cures and treatments."

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