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Theresa Rehtom wrote: <<All I hear from the Democrats is the "the sky is falling and we're the only ones who care." Where were they before they realized they could exploit this issue to get in office? They were not funding stem cell research, in fact they had a ban on this research. >> I believe all political viewpoints should be heard, but let's get the facts straight please. The Democrats did not impose a ban on stem cell research. During Clinton' s administration, Republican Repressentatives attached an amendment to the Appropriations bill each year to prohibit NIH funding for research using embryos. During Clinton's administration, the NIH studied the issues, composed guidelines for ethical research using stem cells - and was about to start funding the research. This funding was squashed as soon as George W. Bush took office. Over the last 3 years Bush's limitations on federal funding has slowed the progress of the research. Although progress is being made in other, more enlightened countries, how much further along could we have been today if the vast resources of the NIH would be invested in both adult and embryonic stem cell research? If our talented scientists hands weren't tied by Bush's limitations? If we had a president who didn't misuse, suppress and distort scientific advice? Teresa, you also wrote : << Now they believe it can be exploited for an election and they are quick to scare the vulnerable and offer false hope.> I wholeheartedly disagree. What keeps me going is hope for the future. What scares me is facing the future with a cure still out of reach. Linda Herman I am reposting a message sent to PIEN earlier this month on the history and politics of federal funding for stem cell research: <<From 1980-1992 - Presidents Reagan and George Bush blocked federal funding for all research using human embryos. The Parkinson's Action Network was founded in 1991 by Joan Samuelson and Anne Udall in an attempt to lift this ban. PAN’s first mission was to support the campaign for federal funding of fetal tissue research. A bill ending the ban was passed in the House in 1991 and in the Senate in March 1992, but was vetoed by President Bush (#1). The House failed by 12 votes to override the veto. President Clinton lifted the ban as one of his first acts as President. He signed the Executive Order lifting the ban, in honor of Mo Udall. He also directed the National Institutes of Health to draft guidelines for funding research in this field. Most of the following information is quoted from : "Funding of human stem cell research by the United States" By Phillip B.C. Jones. EJB Electronic Journal of Biotechnology Vol.3 No1, Issue of April 15,2000. “In 1994, the NIH established the Human Embryo Research Panel to develop policies for methods that researchers should use to obtain embryos, and to determine the scope of ethical embryo research. The panel consisted of 19 scientists, physicians, ethicists, lawyers, and community representatives. In November 1994, after ten months of deliberations, the Human Embryo Research Panel presented its guidelines for human embryo research. - embryos must be less than 14 days old, - and only if the studies could not be performed with animal embryos, and - only if scientists could demonstrate a compelling reason why the studies should be performed. The panel also decided that researchers should not be limited to surplus embryos from in vitro fertilization procedures, and that researchers could create embryos in vitro for research purposes. However, the researchers would have to show that their work with newly created embryos promised outstanding scientific and therapeutic value. The panel also warned that women should not be paid for donating their eggs for research." "During the following month, the NIH voted to adopt the guidelines . However, on the day of the vote, President Clinton issued an Executive Order that government funded scientists would not be allowed to create human embryos for research ….they could only use embryos that remained after in vitro fertilization treatments.” A National Bioethics Advisory Commission was formed . “In July 1995, the House Appropriations Committee approved a proposal offered by Representatives Jay Dickey (R-AR) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) to ban the use of federal funds for research using human embryos To implement the new prohibition, the Committee added an amendment to the 1996 NIH appropriation bill, which additionally barred federal funding for any research requiring embryos obtained from in vitro fertilization procedures." From 1996 on, Congress continued to attach a ban on funding of human embryo research in a rider to the Health and Human Services appropriations legislation . " On January 15, 1999, Harriet S. Rabb, general counsel for Health and Human Services, provided NIH director Harold Varmus with her conclusions about the scope of the current embryo research ban. In brief, she indicated that, since human pluripotent stem cells are not a human embryo, the statutory prohibition on the use of funds appropriated to the Department of Health and Human Services for human embryo research would not apply to research on pluripotent stem cells. With this legal opinion in hand, Varmus announced that he decided to move forward with funding research on newly derived human embryonic stem cells At the same time, he warned that the NIH still could not fund research to produce the cells. The Clinton administration backed the policy that federal funds could be used for research on human embryonic stem cells obtained from the private sector.” The NIH published “Final Guidelines for Stem Cell Research” in August 23, 2000 and “Approval Process for the Documentation of Compliance with the NIH Guidelines on the Use of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells in NIH Research Proposed for Support Under Grants and Cooperative Agreements, November 21, 2000.” They were finally ready to begin the grants process. But before any NIH funding could take place, George W. Bush took office in Jan. 2001. Funding for stem cell research was put on hold. In August 2001, during his famous television address, Bush announced federal funding would be limited to research utilizing 78 existing stem cell lines. Scientists and disease organizations voiced concerns over these limits. As of June 2004, scientists have found only a fraction of these lines are actually usable and available to them...... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn