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Dear Editor: As an ovarian cancer survivor and now a Parkinsons Disease prisoner, I am increasingly disheartened by the religious opponents of the stem cell research that may provide cures for the horrible diseases that destroy and shorten the lives of millions of suffering human beings, old and young, all over the world. While PD daily robs me of my ability to function, the question of whether a blastsocyst is a human being is being argued. Stem cell research opponents applaud the birth of litters of in vitro children and apparently don't think it is morally inconsistent to harvest and destroy extra blastocysts for reproduction, but not for research. Congresspersons who don't even understand the science have prematurely rejected therapeutic cloning. To my knowledge, no religious dogma or text speaks to these issues, because the religions were developed before the science. Even if they did, religion has historically been on the wrong side of truth. Not everyone believes Popes are infallible. At 65, I have little hope for a cure in my lifetime even if we had an all-out war on disease, as opposed to refighting the wars of religion. But I could better deal with my condition if scientists could work unfettered so that children and younger people would have some chance for normal, healthy lives. I would also take comfort from religions if they concentrated on improving the quality of the lives of born, living, suffering people instead of crusading and pontificating for the rights of unborn, theoretical, potential people. Rayilyn Brown 40697 Corte Albara Murrieta, CA 92562 909-696-0908 [log in to unmask] I"ve tried to clean up typos and errors, probably have more. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn