Health committee  Aside from the major products that are out there right now, there's one really for dealing with severe burns and diabetic ulcers. Essentially, skin stem cells are transplanted over the wound. I think about a quarter of a million patients have been treated with that product. The n

Health committee  It's very difficult to quantify those kinds of opportunities. I should maybe caveat the comments as well, by saying that for some of the therapies that are going to be developed—so we think of bone marrow transplantation as one paradigm—there isn't really a business built around

Health committee  In broad terms, though, in terms of where you're going there, the types of cells Dr. Rudnicki is describing are adult stem cells. Then there are embryonic stem cells, sourced from embryos, and then these new iPS cells. You have kind of these three broad categories.

Health committee  We're a very young organization and only beginning to tackle some of these initiatives, but the kinds of things you're suggesting are exactly the kinds of things we're hoping to fund as we move forward.

Health committee  Sure. The concept behind the stem cell charter really arose from a lot of the debate around stem cell research over the years and to bring some focus to the key principles that the scientific community, as a starting point, thought should be observed. It talks about the integri

Health committee  Just to give some sense of numbers, in Canada, four human embryonic stem cell lines have been derived by scientists who were grandfathered under the provisions of the bill when it came in in 2004, but around the world there are probably a couple of hundred stem cell lines now.

Health committee  I don't know if I'm the best-placed person to answer the question--

Health committee  By that I mean that maybe Canadian Blood Services, who've been kind of managing that process, would be a better group to talk to.

Health committee  Thank you. For full disclosure, I should also let you know that I'm executive director of the Stem Cell Network. We all wear many hats but hopefully speak with one voice. I'd like to thank the chair and the committee for inviting the Stem Cell Foundation to present this mornin