Below is a message from Michael Claeys, Senior Policy Coordinator for the
Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.

Listserve members,

For anyone who hasn't yet seen it, below is a reprint of Morton Kondracke
latest column from Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper.  The subject is
the ongoing political and ethical debate surrounding stem cell research.
This is an excellent overview of the current situation, and forecasts that
congressional debate and a vote on the issue are expected later this year.

Along with the critical issue of increased federal funding and coordination
of Parkinson's-focused research,  federal funding and regulation of
promising avenues of research -- including stem cell, fetal tissue and
others -- is also important to the Parkinson's community.  We encourage
advocates to stay informed and involved on these issues and to share your
views with your Senators and Representatives.  They need to learn of the
potentially life-saving benefits of this research, and they need to know
that their constituents are prioritizing the issue.  Advocates may want to
include Mr. Kondracke's column with their personal message to their
legislators.

As always, stay active and please don't hesitate to contact the Michael J.
Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research with your questions and comments.

Sincerely,

Michael Claeys
Senior Policy Coordinator
[log in to unmask]

Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research
840 3rd Street
Santa Rosa, CA 95404
(800) 850-4726 - voice
(707) 544-2363 - fax




On Stem Cells, Bush Has Wrong Pro-Life Stance
Texas Gov. George W. Bush (R) has been signaling that he's a "soft"
pro-lifer who opposes abortion but wouldn't outlaw it. But he's taking a
hard line against stem cell research that might save the lives of millions
of sick people.
Bush says he will maintain the GOP platform's absolute opposition to all
abortions and will sign bills limiting the procedure, but he's made it clear
he won't push for repeal of the Roe vs. Wade decision.
Also, he won't rule out naming a pro-choice running mate and he says he
won't be bound by any abortion litmus test in nominating Supreme Court
justices.
As a result, Bush gets the best of political worlds: The right-to-life
movement is appeased, if not ecstatic, while moderate women think their
constitutional rights are safe with him.
Unfortunately, though, Bush is siding with the pro-life movement on the
issue of federal funding of medical research using embryonic stem cells,
which has the promise of curing diseases including diabetes, cancer and
Alzheimer's.
The National Right to Life Committee and the nation's Roman Catholic bishops
oppose the research because it involves destruction of embryos - even though
the embryos are left over and destined to be discarded by fertility clinics.
Bush's position was first disclosed in the Wall Street Journal on May 30.
The governor's aides told me he favors a ban on federal funding "because of
his pro-life views." Asked how much politics weighed into the decision, they
said, "very little."
According to aides, Bush also opposes federal research using tissue obtained
from aborted fetuses, though it would be harder to stop by presidential
executive order because it's been authorized by Congress.
The right-to-life movement fought fetal tissue research in the 1980s and
successfully persuaded Ronald Reagan and Bush's father to ban federal
funding by executive order.
During various Congressional fights to lift the ban, disease groups won over
such pro-life Republicans as then-Sen. Bob Dole (Kan.) and Sens. Strom
Thurmond (S.C.), Pete Domenici (N.M.), Connie Mack (Fla.) and John McCain
(Ariz.).
Dole declared in one debate that permitting research to fight disease was
"the pro-life position to take." President George Bush vetoed Congress's
lifting of his ban, but President Clinton and Congress reversed that policy
in 1993.
The research has shown promise in fighting birth defects and Parkinson's
disease, which, readers know, my wife suffers from.
Now, stem cells are a burning - and important - side issue of the abortion
debate. It is scheduled to hit the floor of the Senate sometime this summer.
Newly isolated in humans, stem cells are the microscopic interior part of
days-old embryos. Experiments on mice indicate they can be converted into
heart, brain or bone marrow cells - any kind of specialized cells, in fact.
There are no restrictions on private stem cell research, but Congress in
1996 banned federal funding for "research in which human embryos are
destroyed."
The Clinton administration is on the verge of issuing guidelines that would
permit federally funded researchers to experiment on stem cells they obtain
from private sources, though they would not be allowed to derive the cells.
A bill introduced by Sens. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)
would permit researchers to use federal funds both to harvest and experiment
with the cells and also establish guidelines for their use.
Reaction to the Specter-Harkin bill indicates the emotional power of
arguments on both sides. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) said the bill "would
officially declare for the first time ... that government may exploit and
destroy human life for its own or somebody else's purposes."
On the other side, Professor Lawrence Goldstein of the University of
California at San Diego, asked, "The embryos in question will be destroyed
in any case. We must then ask: Is it ethical to literally throw away the
opportunity to allow all people to benefit from their demise?" Right-to-life
spokesmen and Bush aides say that stem cells can be obtained from adult
tissue without destroying embryos, but cell biologists claim that research
using such cells is far less advanced and promising.
Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer said his candidate understands that stem cells
"raise very sensitive and delicate issues involving research and life" and
that "it's not an easy issue."
That shows, I guess, that Bush is a compassionate conservative, as he
claims. Unfortunately, he has decided to come down on the side of frozen
embryos destined for a drainpipe instead of living human beings suffering
from dread diseases.
Vice President Al Gore told the Wall Street Journal that the benefits of
stem cell research "will answer the fervent prayers of millions of people."
On this pro-life issue, Gore wins.