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# 335 Friday, May 25, 2007 - M FOR MINNESOTA: The Great Stem Cell Phone Book Controversy "The telephone book is the advocate's most powerful weapon", I said to Amy Daly the other day, philosophizing over a sandwich. Amy Daly is of course the executive director of Americans for Cures, and as she only had her ear phones on, and the computer screen was lit up to an email, I figured she wasn't too busy. "I disagree", she said, continuing to type, "The most important element is passion for the cause." Aha, a controversy! Yesterday, under "M" I found-- MINNESOTA With my highly-developed organizational skills, I listed people from Minnesota in the "M" section of my phone book. People like Minnesota advocate Jackie Christensen, supporter of stem cell research, fighting for cure-- not only for Parkinson's, but for all disease and disability. If you read transcripts of hearings in favor of stem cell research in Minnesota, you will find Jackie there, patient, determined. Jackie supports a proposed law in Minnesota, HF 34/SF 100: a permissions bill for SCNT and ESCR, state funding allowed but no amount stated. It should have had money included; still, this is a good bill. On April 25, 2007, the Minnesota Senate gave preliminary approval to it, 36-26 in favor. In a familiar pattern, almost all Democrats voted yes for the stem cells, almost all Republicans voted no-and another Republican, Governor Tim Pawlenty, was expected to veto it. Pawlenty is one of those smiling politicians who says "Oh, I support stem cell research!" while talking to the press or the voters, but keeps his fingers crossed behind his back. Turns out, he really only supports stem cell research on cells that are "legally dead". (How do you tell if a blastocyst's stem cells are legally "dead"? Nobody is sure-and if you as a scientist guess wrong, Governor Pawlenty would like to throw you in jail for a couple years.) And Senator Norm Coleman: to my mind, Coleman is waaay out there and he knows how to make the most severe anti-science restrictions sound almost helpful; this is the guy who dreamed up the phony "Hope" Act, S 30, to try and ban government funding for SCNT and new embryonic stem cell lines. Coleman is the "excuse man" for the opposition, so enemies of the research like Governor Pawlenty can pretend to be supporters-"Oh, I support stem cell research, of course I do, really!" -while being about as anti-science as the Flat Earth Guild. But back to the good guys. Folks like: Sarah Youngerman -communications director at the University of Minnesota and hard-working member of the CAMR board; Peter Morton, long-time friend and son of the legendary advocate Patricia Morton, Peter has a foundation, the Morton Cure Paralysis Fund; Dr. Dan Kaufman, the great scientist, working to fight cancer; Key Politicians: Sen. Richard Cohen, Sen. Ron Latz, Sen. Ann Lynch, Rep. Phyllis Kahn, and more, united in the cause of stem cell research; Did you know about Students for Stem Cell Research? Minnesota's chapter of this incredibly valuable advocacy group of new scientists is led by Matt Hanzlik, an energetic freshman. For the future, we must remember Mike Hatch, a strong supporter of stem cell research who ran against Pawlenty for Governor. Hatch lost by the slimmest of margins-we hope he will not stay away from government. Someone else to keep in mind is Al Franken, running against Norm Coleman; Al Franken of course is a comedian, like Mark Twain, and it may be difficult for people to take him seriously because he can make you laugh; but Franken is for real, a serious research supporter. Adult stem cell expert Katherine Verfaille still holds a faculty position at the University of Minnesota, (UMN), though she now lives primarily in Belgium. Dr. Verfaille is of course world renowned, supporting research on both embryonic and adult stem cells. And UMN itself, the University of Minnesota: the people of Minnesota love their state university, rightly taking pride in this beacon of light. UMN has a training program for embryonic stem cell research! Funded by private donations, the University is staunchly going ahead: not waiting for the day when government finally does its duty. One of the key leaders at UMN is Dr. Meri Firpo, veteran researcher from California-Dr. Firpo is one of the earliest pioneers in the field, a contemporary of Wisconsin's James Thomson. She derived many of the original stem cell lines in America. Not only that, but she can talk about it in understandable language. If you ever get a chance to hear her speak, don't miss it. And that is just M for Minnesota! (Not to mention I probably left out a couple hundred important stem cell advocates-sorry!) So, back to the thundering controversy: which is more important, passion or the phone book? Without my little phone book, I would be lost. What would I do, yell out the window, hey, everybody, support stem cell reeeeeesearrrrrrrch!!!---? I know, I know, use the computer-but I like something I can physically hold in my hands, or stuff in a briefcase, take along with me, not have to plug it in. The phone book is power: it unites friends from everywhere. But Daly's right, of course: without passion, the driving will to move ahead, the biggest phone book in the world is just paper and ink. Maybe we should compromise, call it the power/passion telephone book. By Don Reed www.stemcellbattles.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn