#94 Thursday, February 23, 2006  -  WHAT EVERY GOOD SENATOR (AND CITIZEN)
SHOULD KNOW

By Don C. Reed, www.stemcellbattles.com



"Some things every fisherman must know, be he blind, drunk, or asleep,"--
Long Tom,   CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS, by Rudyard Kipling.

I had an ocean talk with David Jensen the other day, (the editor of
California Stem Cell Report, who lives on a boat) and he said one rule on
his boat is that if a person gets seasick and has to lean over the side,
someone else must hang on to the sufferer's trousers, lest he or she lose
their balance, and follow the projectile stomach contents.

Once overboard, the comedy is ended. A boat cannot turn on a dime, and by
the time it does return to the approximate area where the person was lost,
there may be only the sounds of the sea, and the rise and fall of the waves.

Similarly, there are things every public servant (and every voter, for that
matter) must know about stem cell research, and for the same reason.

Lives depend on it: one hundred million lives, in America alone, the people
with incurable diseases and disabilities. And all those people have
families.

If a Congressional Rep. or Sen. makes a mistake through ignorance, we all
suffer.

So, if I could hogtie Congress and the Senate and make them listen for five
minutes, what would I want them to remember about stem cell research?

Three things:

Every Senator must know the difference between Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer
(SCNT, sometimes called therapeutic cloning) and reproductive cloning.

Any law which criminalizes SCNT must be rejected.

Cure is the only way to lower health care costs.


 One: the difference between SCNT and reproductive cloning.

Reproductive cloning is how they made Dolly the sheep. Agricultural
scientists implanted a cloned blastocyst in the wall of a sheep's womb.
Reproductive cloning is dangerous as well as useless.

Dolly, it must be remembered, was sheep #277- the first 276 died.

There are no acceptable reasons to try to clone people. There, everyone
agrees. It would be dangerous to mother, and child alike.

But Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) for stem cells is not about babies
at all. It involves no implantation; there is no womb, no sperm, and no
babies. None. Zero, zip, nada. SCNT is stem cells for cure: that's all, and
that's wonderful

Reproductive cloning? Around the world, no serious scientist or organization
is in favor.

SCNT, however, is supported by every major medical, educational, and
scientific organization which has taken a stand on the issue.


Two: No bill must criminalize SCNT.

Example, House Resolution 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, is a
small but positive step forward. It allows embryos left over from in vitro
fertility attempts to be donated to research, but only after the decision
has been made to throw them away. Medical trash becomes treasure, offering
hope to people at risk.

HR 810 is the most conservative bill possible, while still supporting stem
cell research. It is essentially the Bush stem cell policy with the date
removed. President Bush allows federal funding for stem cell lines made from
IVF attempts exactly like HR 810-but his bill says only those lines created
by August 9, 2001. HR 810 removes that date.

HR 810 comes with no funding.

HR 810 takes no position on SCNT.

It is a good step, but absolutely a "baby step".

Even so, it is possible that trickery will be attached to the bill.

Someone with Karl-Rovian instincts may say, okay, give the research
supporters a cookie to distract them-let HR 810 pass-but with a clause in it
to criminalize SCNT.

If HR 810 becomes a tool to criminalize research, it must be defeated.

Similarly, if any other "decoy" bills is used to criminalize SCNT, they
would instantly become not just useless (as they basically are) but
dangerous as well.


Three: Cure is the only way to lower health care costs.

Do you see anyone in Congress supporting universal free health care?

I do not believe so: because everyone there knows how to subtract.

Consider: if out of pocket medical costs are $1.4 trillion (t-t-trillion:
the word makes me stutter) and related costs like time lost from work mean
another $1.7 trillion for indirect medical costs like time lost from
work-that is $3.1 trillion.

All federal income taxes put together-$2 trillion.

You cannot subtract three trillion from two trillion, not and be happy about
it.

This is not the Republicans' fault, much as this loyal Democrat would love
to blame them for everything. And it is not the Democrats' fault, or the
Greens', or Independents' or anybody else's.

There is no political way to solve the health care crisis. We can divide the
pain differently-- but there is not enough money.

So how do we surmount that mountain of medical costs?

We don't. We make it smaller, through research for cure.

Finding a way to cure polio saved America $28 billion a year: that is money
we do not have to pay, every year.

What will it be like, when research begins to take away the endless expenses
of chronic medical care?

Imagine canceling your house payment. that is the kind of debt relief  stem
cell research could bring.

So what do these three tips add up to, how America needs to support stem
cell research: the good stuff, SCNT?

I can say it in two words; they are proud, even arrogant words-but I will
say them anyway.

Imitate California.



Don Reed  -  www.stemcellbattles.com

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