Another voice / Stem cells
Funding of research has already been slowed too much
By Linda Herman
Updated: 04/27/07 7:07 AM

 Douglas Turner's April 16 column urges legislators to "slow down on stem
cell bills." As a person with Parkinson's disease, I disagree. Patients
facing life-threatening illnesses cannot afford more slowdowns. Progress
already has been impeded by six years of President Bush's limits on funding
of embryonic stem cell research.
Turner's article included some misleading and inaccurate statements. The
Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act (S.5), passed by the Senate, would lift
these limits. It would not fund the creation or destruction of human
embryos, and it is not about abortion.
The bill contains strict ethical guidelines specifying that stem cells must
be derived from embryos that have been donated from in vitro fertilization
clinics, were created for fertility treatment and were in excess of the need
of the individuals seeking treatment. About 400,000 leftover embryos are in
clinic freezers. They are regularly discarded as medical waste. Would it not
be more ethical to use them to help find cures for debilitating and deadly
diseases?
Lifting the limits on NIH funding is supported by more than 600 disease
advocacy, medical and research associations, and thousands of scientists and
doctors including the director of the National Institutes of Health.
Recently testifying before a Senate committee, NIH Director Elias Zerhouni,
who was appointed by the president, stated:
"From my standpoint, it is clear today that American science will be better
served, and the nation will be better served, if we let our scientists have
access to more stem cell lines. I think it is important for us not to fight
with one hand tied behind our back . . . "
The NIH is the world's largest funder of biomedical research. No private
funder comes close. No field of research can advance without access to this
kind of government support. Yet in 2005, the NIH funded more than $607
million for stem cell research overall, but only $39 million for embryonic
research.
To help overcome this inequality and bolster promising science, states such
as California, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland and New York
are providing funding.
Claims have been made of adult stem cells "curing some 70 diseases,"
including Parkinson's. If this were true, I would not be writing this
article. Most successful adult stem cell treatments have involved blood
diseases thus far. Other diseases will respond best to embryonic stem cell
treatments. More research is needed to know for sure.
Turner worries about being "shoved into a brave new world that nobody really
wants." My hope for the future is for a world in which diseases like
Parkinson's will be considered history. But Bush threatens to veto S.5,
again dashing the hopes of millions of Americans. Cures eventually will be
discovered, but by continuing to limit NIH funding, it will take so much
longer.
Linda Herman is New York State Grassroots coordinator and Parkinson's Action
Network patient representative, New Yorkers for the Advancement of Medical
Research. She lives in Snyder.

Here's the original op/ed from the Buffalo News. When you read it
you'll understand why Linda was so "inspired" to reply.
The stem cell blog is still going strong
http://buffalonews.typepad.com/opinion/2007/04/stem_cell_resea.html

Slow down, Dems, on stem cell bills
Douglas Turner
Buffalo News
Updated: 04/16/07 6:43 AM
 WASHINGTON - The U.S. Senate and the New York Legislature may have
edged closer in recent days in allowing taxpayer funds to clone human
embryos in their well meant enthusiasm for the promises of stem cell
research.
Neither body has yet done this, mind you. New York's budget bill
pretty much leaves it up to the governor how $600 million will be
spent on human embryonic stem cell research.
And here, the Senate overwhelmingly approved Housepassed legislation
to allow an unspecified amount of federal money to be spent on
research using "new" lines of human embryos.
It's an issue meandering across politically invisible lines. So
politicians, when compelled to comment, push things close to the edge
of accuracy.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., said the vote would lift
President Bush's "ban" against human embryonic stem cell research.
There is no such ban. President Bush, who cannot stop private
research, said he will veto legislation requiring all Americans to
pay for it.
Sen. Charles E. Schumer, DN. Y., said a vote against the bill is "a
vote against science." Well, not exactly. Schumer's alma mater,
Harvard University, is a leader in embryonic stem cell research using
private research grants.
The federal government already spends literally billions on stem
cells, including studies on lines of human embryo cells already in
use. The Senate bill, nearly identical to one passed in January by
House Democrats, would let Uncle Sam pay for studies on new lines of
human embryos now kept in deep freeze.
These are cells intended for in vitro fertilization to create an
individual human being: A boy. A girl. The research requires the
destruction of these human embryos.
This unpleasant fact has not stopped some institutes in the United
States and worldwide from offering thousands of dollars to women for
their unfertilized eggs. It's as legal as donating blood, for women
to sell these products of their bodies for research.
Critics of the bill, S. 5, primarily from the pro-life community,
note that similar programs in New York and California, along with the
unleashing of federal money, will create a demand for human embryos
that existing lines and back-door sales can't possibly fill.
Realizing this, research institutes are already working on ways to
clone human embryos for medical studies and for profit. Industry can
patent and own research done on human embryos. It cannot necessarily
profit from research from adult stem cells, particularly those taken
from individual patients' tissue.
So far, nearly a decade of research on human embryos has produced
mainly tumors in animals in which they have been implanted. By
contrast, adult stems have produced many cures.
Last week, the American Medical Association reported success in
Brazil in treating diabetes with adult stem cells.
For ideological Democrats, issues involving the destruction of human
embryos were settled two decades ago when the party's platform
embraced the legalization of abortion.
Yet, should it be just Republicans and religious people who worry
about creating an environment where the government itself will wind
up paying for human cloning?
Stripped down, S. 5 is a taxpayer handout to the drug industry that
already makes enough money to spend $4.5 billion a year on U.S.
consumer advertising.
Democrats who run Congress should slow down and draw some lines
before they shove us into a brave new world that nobody really wants.

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