The Breeze - Opinion
Issue: 11/8/04

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Will we ever learn?
By Michelle Meyer

Americans, for the most part, are a bunch of lemmings. We follow. The new
girl has a Louie Vaton bag, we want one; the guy at the gym has 45 in.
biceps, we start pumping; Joey's daddy got him an '05 Mustang, and that's
just not fair.

It's in our culture. If we can slap a band-aid on a problem and make it
invisible, it'll be all right - as far as we care. The subject doesn't
matter as long as we feel better - be it about ourselves or the world.

How sad.

Well, at least we're not discriminate about our cultural apathy.

Take voting for instance. How many of us cared enough about our county, and
the way it's run, to take the time to read up on the candidates. Some did,
maybe.

How about the props? Thought so.

Prop 71: government funding for stem cell research.

And away go the lemmings. Have a nice trip.

News flash, boys and girls. Just because Christopher Reeve was in favor of
something doesn't mean the rest of us have to follow suit.

Now, don't get me wrong. I am not against stem cell re-search. I happen to
think there are many good and necessary things that stem cell research can
accomplish, has accomplished and will accomplish. Adult stem cell research
has helped patients with diseases like lupus, multiple sclerosis and sickle
cell.

Adult stem cells are taken from the patient they will help. Those cells are
treated and then re-introduced into the body, which can result in
improvements in spinal cord injuries, gangrene, heart damage, even some
forms of cancer.

Embryonic stem cell research is another story. This type of stem cell
research has produced no results. That's right, nada, not a one.

Now, we should be asking ourselves, why, if there are no good results, is
embryonic stem cell research promoted over the adult version? Very good
question. I want the answer to that one myself.

Researchers say that embryonic stem cells are better because they can more
easily adapt to whatever part of the body they are needed for. Sounds like a
good reason, right? Maybe in theory.

In practice, however, embryonic stem cells are generally rejected by the
body - and that's a good scenario. Embryonic stem cells have also been known
to cause tumors.

So, scientifically adult stem cells seem to be more promising than embryonic
cells, right?

Maybe it's just me.

What exactly is an embryonic stem cell? Embryonic stem cells are harvested
from living human embryos. Usually those embryos are between five and seven
days old. Let's take a moment to remember back to that sex-ed class we were
forced to sit through. What is the necessary ingredient to fertilize an egg?
Very good - sperm. Whether it's in a petri dish or otherwise, when these two
things come together, life is created.

Yes, I said life.

This translates embryonic stem cell research to murder.

Yes, I said murder.

We can debate when life begins until we are blue in the face, but when the
research-ers say they need samples from live em-bryos, that's more than
enough for me. I personally don't see how you can call something live but
not alive.

Again, maybe it's just me.

Let's re-view. Adult stem cells have helped numerous people with a wide
variety of illnesses, they are taken from the person who will receive the
treatment, and-most importantly-the patient lives after the extraction.
Embryonic stem cells have helped a grand total of zero, are usually
rejected, can cause tumors, and the donor cannot live through the procedure.
Seems like a no-brainer.

And that's not all. Prop 71 denies funding for adult stem cell research. So
not only are we forced to take the life of embryos, we also can't use any of
the funding for the research that shows the most promise.

Why did we pass it then?

Greedy politicians knew that we would believe anything they said because we
don't like to have to think for ourselves. Seriously. Did we hear anything
about the three billion in funding ballooning out to six billion over the
course of the next 30 years because of interest? Or how about the fact that
we couldn't get out the program if we wanted to because it amends the
constitution? Of course not.

We bought the lie - hook, line and sinker - and it's too late now.

People, I hope we've learned our lesson. We have to think for ourselves. We
need to know what we feel and how we believe. A little bit of research on
our parts could easily have saved this state six billion dollars.

What will it be next time?

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