OPINION: Prop. 71 Would Fund Wrong Research
By: RICHARD SAMS - For the North County Times

Last modified Tuesday, October 5, 2004 8:42 PM PDT

The Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation is one of many disease advocacy
groups supporting Proposition 71, California's controversial embryonic stem cell
research and cloning initiative. If voted into law, the initiative will require the state of
California to fund destructive research using embryos and cloning to the tune of $3
billion over 10 years, costing California taxpayers $6 billion after interest. This
astronomical sum of money is equivalent to the amount the federal government is
spending on the Human Genome Project.

There are more than 250,000 people living with spinal cord injuries in the United
States and at least 10,000 new injuries each year. Since his injury, Christopher
Reeve has become an outspoken advocate of people living with spinal cord injuries
and other disabilities. He has testified before the U.S. Senate, urging members to
support therapeutic cloning and research using stem cells from embryos. Is such
enthusiasm and hope justifiable?

To date no human trials have occurred in the field of embryonic stem cell research.
It is proving difficult to coax stem cells into becoming cells that could be implanted
into human beings. Twenty years of such research in animals has shown little
progress. When implanted into animals, stem cells have a propensity to degenerate
into tumors.

It's another story when attention is turned to adult stem cell research. In animal
trials, paraplegic rats have shown dramatic functional improvement after transplants
of adult stem cells. In humans, Dr. Carlos Lima of Portugal is treating patients with
spinal cord injuries with their own stem cells harvested from their nasal cavities. All
patients treated to date have shown some functional improvement.

Dr. Michael Levesque, a neurosurgeon at UCLA School of Medicine, has
transplanted a Parkinson's patient's adult stem cells into the area of brain affected
by the disease. The patient experienced an 80 percent improvement in his
symptoms for four years.

If such fruitful research is being done in the field of adult stem cells, why is Reeve
such an advocate for research that uses embryonic cells?

Why is the foundation apparently blind to a field of research with such imminent
promise for so many? We do know that biotech researchers who are standing in line
to receive $300 million a year from California taxpayers have doled out nearly $5
million to help pass Prop. 71. These same researchers who have an obvious
conflict of interest are exclaiming to the public that cures based on embryonic cell
research are just around the corner for conditions such as spinal cord injuries.
Leaders in the field of stem cell research without a financial interest at stake have
stated clearly this is not the case.

Californians need to have a clearer vision of what Prop. 71 would mean to them:
Further financial troubles that will line the pockets of venture capitalists, and the
inroads for cloning human beings.

Richard Sams, M.D., is on the faculty at the Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton Family
Medicine Residency Program in Oceanside. He serves as the lead consultant of the
ethics committee.

SOURCE: North County Times, CA
http://tinyurl.com/6m2m8

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