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** Note: According this op/ed, the House will consider HR 810 "within days" FROM: MSNBC.com Humanity Before Politics Legislators are about to debate a bipartisan bill to help stem cell research. We need to support them. WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY By Patti Davis Newsweek Updated: 2:53 p.m. ET May 17, 2005 May 17 - Within days, the House of Representatives will consider a bill called the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, HR 810. It was written by Democrat Diana DeGette of Colorado and Republican Mike Castle of Delaware and it seeks to expand Federal research funding beyond the narrow limits imposed by George W. Bush in August 2001. In the last few years, over 100,000 potentially life-saving cells have been destroyed because of President Bush’s decision. Clusters of cells, created during in-vitro fertilization procedures, have simply been discarded. We know the potential of embryonic stem cells. We know that with enough funding for research and development of treatment, there is a better chance that people with spinal cord injuries could get up from their wheelchairs and walk again. Children with diabetes could perhaps live a life without insulin, without fear of blindness or amputation. People who have been struck by Parkinson’s, ALS or Alzheimer’s possibly could look forward to a life free of disease. But not if this president has his way. He puts more importance on those clusters of cells, leaning on the word “human” as if they will actually grow into little boys and girls. Which they never will. This bill deals specifically with these clusters of cells, created “in excess of the clinical need” and donated by couples who no longer need those cells and would otherwise discard them. Couples would donate the cells with written informed consent and would not receive any compensation. Strong pro-life advocates like Orrin Hatch back this bill. In fact, there probably is no other pending legislation at the moment that has this kind of bipartisan support. Which says more about human beings and life itself than it does about politics. All of the men and women sitting in the House of Representatives have, in some way, been touched by disease or accident--either in their own families or in their circle of friends. I’ve not done a survey on this, but I know it’s true because it’s true for all of us. Who among us doesn’t know someone with diabetes, or Alzheimer’s, or ALS, or Parkinson’s? Who among us hasn’t at least met another human being who is confined to a wheelchair? And who among us doesn’t shiver with the fearful thought that it can happen to us? Life is fragile, and none of us are immune to that one diagnosis, or that one tragic accident that can change our lives forever. President Bush’s “compromise” in August 2001 has yielded nothing. He agreed to let the already existing stem cell lines be used for research--about 60 lines. But out of those only 15 turned out to be available and they are reportedly contaminated with non-human molecules, potentially rendering them useless. Meanwhile, couples have continued to go into doctor’s offices and clinics for in-vitro fertilization, and cells have been created in excess of their needs. Those cells, with the promise of new life in them, have later been destroyed. Research has been progressing overseas, and many scientists from this country are abandoning America to do this important work elsewhere. The United Kingdom, Singapore, Israel, Sweden and Australia all have more supportive policies toward stem cell research. So, we are losing some of the best minds we have because they aren’t able to do their work here. This bill is very likely to pass the House and will then go to the Senate. If it passes there, it will wind up on President Bush’s desk. He then has a choice of whether or not to veto it. He has been quoted as saying, “I’m not going to change my mind.” sPerhaps George W. Bush would like to look into the eyes of a child with juvenile diabetes, or a person trapped inside their body by ALS and try to explain his “moral” position that it’s better to destroy the cells that could give them new life. Perhaps he would like to kneel beside a wheel chair and tell a man or woman that, because of his “ethical” reasoning, promising research is not being pursued. Or sit at the bedside of someone with Alzheimer’s and tell family members who miss that person so terribly, who are watching their loved one die a little more each day, that he is just following his conscience. Of course, he won’t have to do any of those things. If research does not move forward, the rest of us will be left that sad task. URL: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7886834/site/newsweek/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn