Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today kicked off a drive to collect signatures online for a petition to be sent to President Bush asking that he expand the Administration's policy on embryonic stem cell research.

"An overwhelming majority of Americans support embryonic stem cell research and it is time that the White House take note of their concerns," Senator Feinstein said. "By gathering signatures for this petition, we are sending a clear signal that it is important to many people that the full potential of this research be explored and we intend to make ourselves heard by this Administration."

The embryonic stem cell petition can be found at Senator Feinstein's website: http://feinstein.senate.gov/stemcell.html

Embryonic stem cell research has the potential to help more than 100 million Americans who have illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and multiple sclerosis as well as spinal cord injuries.

The Bush Administration has limited Federal funding for research on embryonic stem cells to those that had been derived as of August 9, 2001, when the policy was announced. At that time there were 78 stem cell lines available to researchers. Today, the number of stem cell lines has dropped to 19.

Embryonic stem cell research is supported by 40 Nobel Laureates, 142 patient groups, academic institutions, scientists and caregivers and 264 members of Congress.