Congratulations Phil!
Your letter is very professional (in my opinion) and you are to be
commended in offering it's use, in whole or in part.

Thank you very much!

Best regards ......... murray

On 24 May 2001, at 18:00, Phil Tompkins wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I started out writing a stem cell article for submission as a guest
> editorial, and I finished it in the form of a letter (appended below) to
> President Bush.  If anyone wants to use the letter in whole or in part
> for a similar purpose, please do so.
>
> Phil
>
> =====================================================================
>
> May 24, 2001
>
> President George W. Bush
> The White House
> 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
> Washington, DC 20500
>
> Dear Mr. President:
>
> As person disabled by Parkinson's disease I will be affected by your
> decision about whether to deny use of federal funds for highly important
> medical research involving embryonic stem cells.  I have heard that you
> oppose the research, but that you have not disclosed to the public your
> reasons.  I urge you to consider the strong medical, ethical and
> Constitutional reasons why this research needs to be federally funded.
>
> The embryos in question are cultured to the blastocyst stage from
> fertilized eggs left over from in vitro infertility treatments.  The
> couples receiving treatment chose to donate them to medical research
> rather than have them destroyed or possibly "adopted" by other couples.
> The stem cells taken from these embryos can multiply indefinitely and
> can differentiate into any of the over 200 specific cell types in the
> body.  They offer the potential to create a large volume of
> transplantable tissue that can be used to reverse the progress of
> diseases like diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson's disease.
> There is a compelling public need to find cures for all these diseases.
>
> The treatment potential of embryonic stem cells was demonstrated by the
> recent work of Dr. Ole Isacson of Harvard and Ron McKay, Ph.D., of the
> National Institutes of Health (NIH), whose laboratories have developed
> dopamine-producing brain cells from mouse embryonic stem cells and have
> transplanted them to mouse models of Parkinson's disease.  The
> transplants reversed the Parkinson's.  With federal funding, human
> clinical trials of this procedure could start within a few years.
>
> The opponents of embryonic stem cell research are correct when they note
> that there are other sources of stem cells -- umbilical cords,
> placentas, bone marrow, even cadavers and, allegedly, fat from
> liposuction.  But they err in their judgment that the other stem cells
> will serve equally well and that the use of embryonic stem cells is
> unnecessary.  Not all stem cells have equal potential. Researchers tell
> us that it is far too early to rule out any avenue of stem cell
> research.  We won't know which stem cells work better in which
> treatments for which diseases until all possibilities have been tried
> and compared clinically.  For Parkinson's disease there have so far been
> no reports of non-embryonic stem cell successes that compare with the
> achievements of Isacson and McKay.
>
> The groups on the different sides of the stem cell issue do not
> neatly correspond to the sides on the abortion issue.  Some people
> who oppose abortion -- Senator Strom Thurmond and former Senators Bob
> Dole, and Connie Mack, for example -- support the research.  How is this
> possible?  Here's one way.  If you think abortion is allowable in
> exceptional cases, then you necessarily believe that there are important
> values that outweigh the life of an embryo in its earliest stages.  If
> you believe that these overriding values include saving many lives and
> alleviating suffering through medical research, then you can in good
> conscience support medical research using donated embryos that would
> otherwise become medical waste.
>
> Mr. President, you have said that you oppose abortion except in cases of
> rape and incest.  By virtue of these exceptions your position is
> consistent with supporting embryonic stem cell medical research.  You
> need not, therefore, have reservations about funding it.  Also Mr.
> President, you must be concerned about the effects of the research being
> done only privately, without NIH guidelines and without peer review.
>
> Some religions teach that embryos less than a week old are complete
> people having souls and rights, and that by using them in research we
> commit murder.  In medicine, those patients whose religious beliefs are
> incompatible with particular forms of treatment are accommodated via the
> right to refuse treatment.  For example, Jehovah's Witnesses may refuse
> blood transfusions even if this refusal results in their own deaths.
> Therapies based on embryonic stem cells can be handled the same way.
>
> Your decision may raise an issue of church-state separation, an
> essential principle in the foundation of American democracy.  Just as it
> is unethical for physicians to force their religious views on their
> patients, so it would be contrary to the Establishment Clause of the
> First Amendment to impose on everyone a personal religious belief in the
> form of an executive order regarding a public health care policy for
> which there is no clear secular purpose.
>
> For all these reasons I ask you to please reconsider your opposition to
> this vital research.  Thank you.
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
> Phil Tompkins
> Amherst, Massachusetts
>
> cc:     The Honorable Edward M. Kennedy
>         The Honorable John F. Kerry
>         The Honorable John W.Olver
>         The Hampshire Gazette
>
***********
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