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The following editorial, originally from the Buffalo News, was found on the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research (CAMR) web site, which has lots of other information on stem cell research, including sample advocacy letters. PAN is a member of the Coalition. SEE: http://www.stemcellfunding.org/fastaction/ Linda Herman The Debate Over Stem Cells 5/8/2001 Buffalo News (Editorial ) "Promising research gains reported this spring offer great hope for new ways to treat and perhaps even cure diabetes, Parkinson's disease and other human ailments. But there's a catch: The new paths lead through thickets of conflict, because they rely on federally banned stem cell research. The paths should be followed, nonetheless. Objections to stem cell research, rooted in the fact that current medical technologies obtain such cells from aborted early-stage fetuses, are outweighed by the potential benefits. Ignoring the chance to ease suffering and save a multitude of lives would be the greater sin. The research studies involve only work with mice, but offer patterns to follow in future experiments with human cells. For now, rules won by abortion foes ban federally funded researchers from taking human embryo stem cells, and the Department of Health is reviewing a restriction-dodging Clinton administration rule allowing such studies to use cells harvested by privately funded labs. In theory, there may be ways around the ethical dilemma posed by methods that destroy a human embryo when, at only a few days old, it is a tiny hollow ball of "stem" cells that would eventually evolve into all the different types of cells that make up a human body. Ways might be found to use adult stem cells, or enough embryo stem cells could be cultured or cloned. Neither method yet answers the need, but both should be pursued. In the meantime, privately funded laboratories will try to extend the research from mice to humans. The potential rewards are enticing. In one experiment, researchers used proteins to evolve embryo stem cells into the structures that produce insulin -- a promising step toward a cure for juvenile diabetes. In the other study, one with a more tangled ethical web, the cloning techniques that produced Dolly the sheep were used. Mature skin cells from the tip of a mouse tail were disassembled and the cell nucleus was substituted for the nucleus of a mouse egg. Allowed to grow, the egg would have become a mouse clone -- the process would face a separate federal ban if applied to human cells -- but instead the egg was destroyed after a few days to gain stem cells that, in turn, were coaxed into forming the specialized neurons that produce a brain chemical missing in patients with Parkinson's disease. The techniques offer an early step toward "regenerative cloning," once solidly in the realm of science fiction. Grown structures someday could be used to repair or replace ailing or damaged ones. Stem cell research also offers hope in the treatment of heart disease, strokes, spinal cord injuries, burns, multiple sclerosis and other diseases. The moral concerns are undeniable, but they include not only the fate of the embryo but the fate of suffering children and adults. The research must advance." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn