On 23 Feb 2001, at 3:50, Sid Levin wrote:

> In a message dated 2/22/01 Edith Love writes:
>  > Just to let you know that I sent copies of the Laureates' Letter to
>  my > senators and my representative.  I added an introductory
>  paragraph. > E of the headdress >>
>
> Edith, what a wonderful idea. We should ALL of us do the same.
> especially where the Senator or Congressman vacillates. How about it?
> Can someone get a copy of the letter on this net for all of us to see
> and follow up with! I'm ready. I got rid of my 33 cents stamps finally
> and can go first class with only one stamp again. Hoorah. One of Life's
> little victories Sid Levin

Okay Sid, one more time....  murray

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Nobel Laureates' Letter to President Bush

Eighty Nobel laureates were among those who  signed a letter to
President Bush urging funding for research on human embryo cells.

To the Honorable George W. Bush,
President of the United States
We the undersigned urge you to support Federal funding
for research using human pluripotent stem cells. We join
with other research institutions and patient groups in our
belief that the current National Institutes of Health (NIH)
guidelines, which enable scientists to conduct stem cell
research within the rigorous constraints of federal oversight
and standards, should be permitted to remain in effect.

The discovery of human pluripotent stem cells is a
significant milestone in medical research.

Federal support for the enormous creativity of the US
biomedical community is essential to translate this discovery
into novel therapies for a range of serious and currently
intractable diseases.

The therapeutic potential of pluripotent stem-cells is
remarkably broad. The cells have the unique potential to
differentiate into any human cell type. Insulin-producing
cells could be used to treat - or perhaps even cure -
patients with diabetes, cardiomyocytes could be used to
replace damaged heart tissue, chondrocytes could be
used for arthritis, and neurons for Parkinson's,
Alzheimer's, ALS and spinal cord injuries to name a few
examples. There is also the possibility that these cells
could be used to create more complex, vital organs, such
as kidneys, livers, or even entire hearts.

Some have suggested that adult stem cells may be sufficient
to pursue all treatments for human disease. It is premature to
conclude that adult stem cells have the same potential as
embryonic stem cells -- and that potential will almost
certainly vary from disease to disease. Current evidence
suggests that adult stem cells have markedly restricted
differentiation potential. Therefore, for disorders that prove
not to be treatable with adult stem cells, impeding human
pluripotent stem cell research risks unnecessary delay for
millions of patients who may die or endure needless
suffering while the effectiveness of adult stem cells
is evaluated.

The therapeutic promise of pluripotent stem cells is based
on more than two decades of  research in mice and other
animal models.

This research confirms that pluripotent stem cells are
capable of generating all of the cell types of the body.
Most importantly, the therapeutic potential of these cells
has already been demonstrated.

Cardiomyocytes generated in the laboratory from these
cells have been transplanted into the hearts of dystrophic
mice where they formed stable intracardiac grafts. Nerve
cells have successfully reversed the progression of the
equivalent of multiple sclerosis in mice and have restored
function to the limbs of partially paralyzed rats; and
insulin-secreting cells have normalized blood glucose in
diabetic mice. These findings suggest that therapies
using these cells may one day provide important new
strategies for the treatment for a host of currently
untreatable disorders.

While we recognize the legitimate ethical issues raised by
this research, it is important to understand that the  cells
being used in this research were destined to be discarded
in any case. Under these circumstances, it would be tragic
to waste this opportunity to pursue the work that could
potentially alleviate human suffering.

For the past 35 years many of the common human virus
vaccines -- such as measles, rubella, hepatitis A, rabies
and poliovirus -- have been produced in cells derived from
a human fetus to the benefit of tens of millions of Americans.
Thus precedent has been established for the use of fetal
tissue that would otherwise be discarded.

We urge you to allow research on pluripotent stem cells to
continue with Federal support, so that the tremendous
scientific and medical benefits of their use may one day
become available to the millions of American patients who
so desperately need them.

Yours respectfully,
Kenneth J. Arrow*, Stanford University
Julius Axelrod*, National Institute of Mental Health, Education & Welfare
Baruj Benacerraf*, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Paul Berg*, Stanford University
J. Michael Bishop*, University of California, San Francisco
Nicolaas Bloembergen*, Harvard University
Herbert C. Brown*, Purdue University
Jose Cibelli, Advanced Cell Technology
Stanley Cohen*, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Leon N. Cooper*, Brown University
E. J. Corey*, Harvard University
James W. Cronin*, University of Chicago
Robert Curl, Jr.*, Rice University
Peter Doherty*, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Johann Deisenhofer*, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Reneto Dulbecco*, Salk Institute
Edmond H. Fischer*,  University of Washington
Val L. Fitch*, Princeton University
Robert Fogel*, University of Chicago
Jerome I. Friedman*, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Milton Friedman*, Hoover Institute
Robert F. Furchgott*, State University of New York Health Sciences Center
Murray Gell-Mann*, Santa Fe, NM
Walter Gilbert*, Harvard University
Alfred Gilman*, University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center
Donald Glaser*, University of California, Berkeley
Sheldon Lee Glashow*, Boston University
Ronald M. Green, Dartmouth College
Paul Greengard*, The Rockefeller University
Roger Guillemin*, The Salk Institute
Leonard Hayflick, University of California, San Francisco
Herbert A. Hauptman*, Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research
James J. Heckman*, University of Chicago
Alan Heeger*, University of California, Santa Barbara
Dudley Herschbach*, Harvard Medical School
David H. Hubel*, Harvard Medical School
Russell Hulse*, Plasma Physics Laboratory
Eric Kandel*, Columbia University
Jerome Karle*, Washington, D.C.
Lawrence R. Klein*, University of Pennsylvania
Walter Kohn*, University of California, Santa Barbara
Arthur Kornberg*, Stanford University School of Medicine
Edwin G. Krebs*, University of Washington
Robert P. Lanza+, Advanced Cell Technology
Robert Laughlin*, Stanford University
Leon Lederman*, Illinois Institute of Technology
David M. Lee*, Cornell University
Edward Lewis*, California Institute of Technology
William Lipscomb, Jr.*, Harvard University
Rudolph A. Marcus*, California Institute of Technology
Daniel McFadden*, University of California, Berkeley
R. Bruce Merrifield*, The Rockefeller University
Robert Merton*, Harvard University Graduate School of Business
Administration
Franco Modigliani*, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mario J. Molina*, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ferid Murad*,  University of Texas Medical School
Marshall W. Nirenberg*, NIH National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute
Douglass C. North*, Washington University
George A. Olah*, University of Southern California
Douglas Osheroff*, Stanford University
George E. Palade*, University of California, San Diego
Martin Perl*, Stanford University
Norman F. Ramsey*, Harvard University
Burton Richter*, Stanford University
Richard J. Roberts*, New England Biolabs
Paul A. Samuelson*, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Melvin Schwartz*, Columbia University
Phillip A. Sharp*, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Richard E. Smalley*, Rice University
Hamilton O. Smith*, Celera Genomics
Robert M. Solow*, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Horst Stormer*, Columbia University
Henry Taube*, Stanford University
Richard Taylor*, Stanford University
E. Donnall Thomas*, University of Washington
James Tobin*, Yale University
Susumu Tonegawa*, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Charles Townes*, University of California, Berkeley
James D. Watson*, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Steven Weinberg*, University of Texas
Thomas H. Weller*, Harvard School of Public Health
Michael D. West+, Advanced Cell Technology
Eric F. Wieschaus*, Princeton University
Torsten N. Wiesel*, The Rockefeller University
Robert W. Wilson*, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

* Nobel Laureate
+ Corresponding Author

© 2001 The Washington Post Company

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37117-2001Feb21.html

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