From my email friend Greta:
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: [log in to unmask] 
  To: undisclosed-recipients: 
  Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2007 3:03 PM
  Subject: OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT


  OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT

  Mr President:

  April 11, 2007:  the Senate, by a vote of 63 to 34, passed the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act (S. 5)  thanks to the efforts of its authors Senators Feinstein of California,  Harkin of Iowa, Hatch of Utah, Kennedy of Massachusetts, Smith of Oregon, and Specter of Pennsylvania. 

  In the past, you have left little doubt you would reject such a bill despite appeals from fellow Republicans Nancy Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger.  In the past, it has been said that you consider using embryonic stem cell research equivalent to murder (See response by Mr. Snow to a journalist's question) because it would destroy the life of an embryo.

  To me this is a very strange -- totally incomprehensive -- statement inasmuch as the embryo's destruction is ineluctable.  Indeed, if not used for research, it will be thrown away as have probably thousands before the ones which at this very moment are destined for the garbage can.  If my memory serves me right, in all those years since in vitro fertilization has been accepted by society only three embryos have been adopted.  Three out of how many?

  LIVE AND LEARN

  August 9, 2004:  Representative DeGette said to Ms Suzanne Dentzer:

  "One of the pro life supporters of stem cell research said to me, 'You know, it's like if you had a child, and your child was hit by a car and killed. Many parents would want to donate that child's organs to give the gift of life to another child.  Many in vitro fertilization patients would likewise want to donate the leftover embryos to give the promise of life to other Americans.' 

  And I think that there's a growing consensus in this country among pro life, pro choice, all Americans, that this is for a greater good." 

  August 2004:  some pro life supporters were already giving their support to embryonic stem cell research.  Why?  Because if such research leads to cures for a few incurable diseases, countless lives will be saved, not lost.

  April 2007: Every day, every hour, every minute more and more Americans support such research.  Seventy percent of them already now, according to the polls.  And I am wondering:  if they could change their mind, cannot you?   Do you really want to in the near future be left out there -- all alone -- with your veto as unique company?

  Remember:  you appointed Dr. Elias Zerhouni in 2002 as Head of NIH.  You obviously valued him enough to nominate him for such still "world-wide prestigious" post.  He was against embryonic stem cell research.  In 2007, four years later, having lived and learned, he said very clearly during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing:

  “It is clear today that American science would be better served -- and the nation would be better served -- if we let our scientists have access to more [human embryonic stem] cell lines.    

  "I think it's important for us not to function with one hand tied behind our back here.  To sideline NIH in an issue of such importance is shortsighted."

  He further suggested that strict limits on federally funded embryonic research are holding back U.S. scientists from competing on the world stage.

  And I add:  "Not only the nation, but the world would be better served if scientists have access to more [human embryonic stem] cell lines.  A veto would inevitably further diminish the leading role NIH has played for such a long, long time on the international scene."

  May I inquire whether you have asked Dr. Zerhouni why he changed his mind?  Have you thought through what he is now believing and publicly stating?  Have you grasped why so many people now support S.5?

  I don't know Dr. Zerhouni, but I do know that he is at the head of NIH.  As such, he probably is very well aware that that institution has lost to Alzheimer's one of its best internationally known researchers, namely, Dr. Harvey Gralnick.  This, to the great distress of anybody and everybody not only at NIH but out there in the great wide world:  everybody and anybody who knew this most brilliant scientist, this good husband, father, friend, etc...

  The loss of just this one brilliant mind to the world's scientific community will have as a result an incalculable number of people reduced to further pain and suffering and, ultimately, an untimely death because of research projects left unfinished.

  Dr. Harvey Gralnick was at the top of his field when Alzheimer's felled him more than ten years ago.  Ms. Dentzer interviewed his wife on PBS.  Should you look at this interview, you might find out that not only his career but Ms. Meryl Comer's own extremely successful one suddenly came to an abrupt halt.  You might  find out how stress affects a caregiver whose career is so suddenly cut short by the enormous burden of becoming a full time caregiver and thereby plunging into a life totally defined by this terrible illness called "Alzheimer's," a life which very well might be shortened because of what she (in many cases also "he") goes through day in, day out trying to give her/his most to the care of a significant other.

  A cure for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, etc. is more than giving a patient his normal life back.  It is giving a whole family its life back and -- in too many, many cases -- its family members' own physical and mental health back.  It would totally eliminate the mental anguish of blood relatives who lead their lives thinking:  "He/she now.  Who next?  Me?"  

  It would greatly cut down on the running away health costs you are so concerned about.  Early onset Parkinson's is more and more widespread:  Can you possibly understand what it is to have Parkinson's for thirty years starting at 29 years of age?  And what impact it has on the family of that young Parkinsonian?  To have Alzheimer's at 45?  To be in a nursing home a decade later with your spouse/caregiver dead prematurely because of being totally burned out?

  Parkinson's, Alzheimer's:  those are but only two of the many incurable diseases which might be cured by embryonic stem cell research within the next ten years.

  Will your veto rein in American researchers for the foreseeable future?  Will your veto encourage them to continue their work overseas?  That is a very painful question haunting too many caregivers nationwide who still have hope for a timely cure..

  Let me add:  among all the statistics, there are none about how many talented persons are lost to society because of those atrocious and as yet incurable diseases, how many who, through their outstanding careers, have saved people's lives or who through their inventions, art, music, architecture have greatly contributed to our quality of life:  so much talent lost forever.  Obituaries very often open a window on exactly what is being lost.  And it is heart breaking, painful, upsetting.

  So, Mr. President, if you really are pro life, if you really value the family show us by signing reconciled S. 5.

  Curing those dreadful diseases go far, far beyond the patient being cured.  If you ever have enjoyed throwing a pebble in water -- as my Parkinsonian husband loved to do -- you will have seen the circles getting broader and broader.  That is the way those diseases affect society now.

  But that is also the way it will work when the first Alzheimer's, the first Parkinsonian, the first paraplegic will again be able to lead a full productive life.  A heavy cloud of pain, of worry, of stress will be lifted off not only that Alzheimer's patient, that Parkinsonian, that paraplegic but also off all those living in their wide circle of family, friends, acquaintances, etc.

  Thank you for your prompt and thoughtful attention to why embryonic stem cell research is viewed so very  important by far too many people, too many families not only in the US but all over the world adversely affected by, so far, incurable diseases.

  We need a cure.  We need it now.  We cannot wait.

  Greta Swinnen Crais
  former caregiver to her husband Thomas H. Crais (1932 - 2006)
  413 Queen St.
  Alexandria, VA 22314
  http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/july-dec06/alzheimers_07-26.html

  a.. Online NewsHour: Report | Families Deal with Alzheimer's | July... 
  SUSAN DENTZER: Harvey Gralnick, Comer's 70 year-old husband, is in his 12th ... was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's and eventually had to leave NIH. ...

  www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/july-dec06/alzheimers_07-31.html

  http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/july-dec06/alzheimers_07-31.html








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