#404 Friday, January 4, 2007 - THE DIRTIEST DOZEN: Opponents of Stem Cell
Research

If you had to name a person or institution who has done the most to HURT
stem cell research, who (or what) would it be?

Here are my candidates, in no particular order.

1. President George Bush: Republican obstructionist-in-chief, Mr. Bush tried
hard to jail scientists for stem cell research.

2. Pope Benedict XVI: beginning with his influence on beloved Pope John Paul
II, he has managed to put the leadership of a mighty church in opposition to
the hope of cure.

3. Roger Wicker/James Dickey: authors of the annually-renewed Dickey-Wicker
Amendment, blocking federal funds from developing embryonic stem cell lines.

4. David Weldon: co-author of the misleadingly-named Cloning Prohibition
Act, the anti-research law (passed twice by the Republican-controlled House
of Representatives) which would have sent SCNT researchers to jail.

5. Sam Brownback: legislative clone of David Weldon, Senator Brownback tried
to ride his anti-research notoriety all the way to the Presidency.
Fortunately for the country, he was not successful.

6. Patricia Heaton/Rush Limbaugh/Mel Gibson: celebrities who use their star
power to try and block embryonic stem cell research. They have every right
to oppose research for cure, but it does offend me, and perhaps others, when
Rush Limbaugh mocks Parkinson's sufferer Michael J. Fox, or Patricia Heaton
makes an anti-research ad with the actor who portrayed Jesus in the movies
(he even spoke in Aramaic, implying gentle Jesus would have been against the
research!) or when one of my favorite action stars uses his ability to
command the media to try and shoot down Proposition 71.

7. Tom Coburn: another anti-research Republican, considered the number one
opponent of the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Act.

8. The Sacramento Bee: an influential California newspaper, long-term enemy
of the Golden State's stem cell program, the Bee has assassinated whole
forests of trees attacking the California Institute for Regenerative
Medicine.

9. John Sununu authored the so-called "Hope Act", which would poison the NIH
against embryonic stem cell research. I find it particularly offensive that
a glorious word like HOPE should be co-opted by those who would block the
hope of cure.

10. Daniel Lipinski: one of only 14 Democrats in the 435-member House of
Representatives to vote against the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act,
Lipinski also authored an anti-research bill, the so-called "Patients First"
Act, yet another attempt to stack the deck against embryonic stem cell
research in the National Institutes of Health.

11. David Prentice: author of "the List", the 58 (or 72 or 100 or whatever)
alleged treatments/cures for chronic disease/disabilities. An employee of a
religious lobbying firm, the Family Research Group, Dr. Prentice made a
computer search of scientific studies having anything to do with adult stem
cells, and came up with his widely-cited list of "treatments", implying that
people with paralysis and Parkinsons and other chronic conditions were being
cured with adult stem cells, which meant no need for embryonic.

12. The Republican Party: noble exceptions duly noted, the Grand Old Party's
stem cell policy is negative: still opposing new embryonic stem cell
research funding, still supporting jail sentences for SCNT stem cell
researchers, still blocking serious NIH funding, etc...


PREDICTION: ten years from now, New Year's Day, 2018, there will be no need
for an anti-stem cell research list like this one.

The Republican Party will listen to their progressive wing, as well as the
emerging biomedical industry, their natural constituency.

The Religious Right will remember its obligation to kindness, and either
support full stem cell research, and accept its benefits, (or refuse them,
as some religions still refuse blood transfusions) or just agree to leave it
alone.

And stem cell research? Full stem cell research (adult, embryonic, SCNT, and
the new iPS research) will be so established as successful, there will be no
serious political opposition to it.

And with the end to anti-science obstructionism, there will also be no need
for squeaky annoying list-makers like me.

May that day come soon.

Don Reed
www.stemcellbattles.com


Don C. Reed is co-chair (with Karen Miner) of Californians for Cures, and
writes for their web blog, www.stemcellbattles.com. Reed was citizen-sponsor
for California's Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act of 1999, named
after his paralyzed son; he worked as a grassroots advocate for California's
Senator Deborah Ortiz's three stem cell regulatory laws, served as an
executive board member for Proposition 71, the California Stem Cells for
Research and Cures Act, and is director of policy outreach for Americans for
Cures. The retired schoolteacher is the author of five books and thirty
magazine articles, and has received the National Press Award.


Rayilyn Brown
Board Member AZNPF
Arizona Chapter National Parkinson's Foundation
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