Rayilyn Brown
Director AZNPF
Arizona Chapter National Parkinson Foundation
[log in to unmask]
From: Don Reed
Sent: Monday, April 20, 2009 11:13 PM
To: Don Reed
Subject: Monday, April 20, 2009 -- Three Billion Dollars in Cancer Research May be Swept Away
TEXAS TORNADO: Three Billion dollars in Cancer Research May be Swept Away
Texas Governor Rick Perry’s recent recommendation that Texas secede from America was nonsensical. If the Governor is so uncomfortable in our country that he wishes to leave, that is his right; but he will not take Texas with him. Recent polls show the rest of his state is quite happy being associated with the United States .
This fuss and furor is just a blustering dust storm, stirred up for whatever temporary political purpose the Governor hoped to achieve. Few people took him seriously; I doubt very much he did either. (When Mr. Perry’s political biography is written, it will quite rightly pay more attention to the kindness of the Governor when Hurricane Katrina created homeless refugees—and Texas took them in—than this secession nonsense.)
But there is another Texas tornado which is deadly serious, and which may cost Texas families a great deal.
Anyone who has cancer (my sister has it; my mother died of it) wants the research for cure to move forward.
Lance Armstrong is a fighter for research, and he helped Texas pass an amazing
$3 billion dollar research bill dedicated to finding a cure for cancer. That money came with no restrictive anti-research strings attached.
Unfortunately, Senator Steve Ogden (R-Bryan) is attempting to block a vital component of that research: shutting down embryonic stem cell research in Texas .
Ogden is a cunning politico; this guy is legitimately tough, and knows how to street fight—unfortunately he is using his very real strengths to back an anti-research vision that is as out of step with America as the Governor Perry’s secession plan.
At a time when the rest of the country is embracing cure research, Mr. Ogden wants to ban it.
Because he knows he is out of touch with Texas voters, he first tried to do the damage quietly.
Senator Ogden inserted a “rider” onto the state’s must-pass budget bill, Senate Bill One. This rider bans state funding of embryonic stem cell research.
As Committee chairman, Ogden waited until pro-research committee members were out of the room, and then rushed through a quick vote, which passed 6-5.
There was no public notice, no testimony, no discussion. When asked about this undemocratic procedure, he replied that the members had been talking about it “privately”. No worries about sunshine or openness for Mr. Ogden!
Now, like a tick on the neck of a horse, that anti-research rider is attached to the budget, to suck the life out of the cancer research bill, and weaken that state’s hope for cure.
Asked if he thought this would end embryonic stem cell research in his state, the Senator reportedly replied, “If that bill won’t do it, the next one will.”
The Senate let his rider stay on—the House stripped it off—now the two houses will confer, and one will win and one will lose…
The next attack he spoke of, is Senate Bill 1695.
We need to let Senator Ogden know—politely but firmly—that the families of Texas and America deserve better.
Now here’s the catch. The Senator is an old pro, and as such knows how to block unwanted correspondence.
I called yesterday and left a message. Then I emailed him.
I doubt very much either message will reach him.
But I am also going to send him a personal letter, the old-fashioned kind, remember those, they have stamps on them? And that—even if thrown away—will be noticed.
Because nobody writes letters anymore. Any personal letter gets attention, and the Senator’s staff will be tallying the responses.
The Senator expects, I am sure, to hear nothing but letters of support from his allies in the Religious Right.
Let us surprise him. Politely, of course: rudeness only makes us look like fringe elements, instead of mainstream America , which is what we are.
I will be sending three copies of my letter to the Senator: one to each of his three public offices.
Those addresses are:
1. Sen. Steve Ogden, Texas Senate, P.O. Box 12068 , Capitol Station, Austin , TX 78711
2. East District Office, 3740 Copperfield Drive, Suite 103 , Bryan , Texas 77802
979/776-0521
3. West District Office, 309 West Main , Suite 115 , Round Rock , Texas 78664
512/828-5224
Want some background? Below is probably more than you need, so if you already are up on the effort, feel free to skip over it—but please, help me with a letter, a call, or an email—don’t leave it to somebody else.
This is for Texas , but it is also for everyone. Texas is a wonderful state, huge, full of diverse energy and power—we need the scientists and colleges and patients and advocates and political leaders of the Lone Star State—we need Texas, and so does the world..
The following info is from my friends at TXAMR—Texans for the Advancement of Medical Research.
SB 1695 BY OGDEN (this is the second wave of attack I mentioned earlier--dr)
Bill Background info: Would limit the use of state money or facilities for research involving the destruction of human embryos, even those destined for discard as medical waste by IVF clinics and used to create stem cell lines for research. The rider would also ban IVF treatments.
WHAT THE BILL DOES:
a.. Ban research on stem cell lines created using fertilized eggs from fertility clinics, eggs that were destined to be discarded as medical waste. Using these eggs that would otherwise be thrown out to study diseases and to search for treatments and cures, offers the hope of healthier life for thousands of Texans.
a.. Ban research currently being conducted in state research institutions around the state. SB 1695 does much more than ban funding for embryonic stem cell research; it bans the conduct of the research by NIH funds as well as private funding.
a.. Ban current research on previously approved federal stem cell lines. Research studies using the embryonic stem lines approved by President Bush in 2001 would come to a halt in Texas .
a.. Stop all embryonic stem cell research in all state institutions in Texas
a.. Senator Ogden’s bill would prohibit the use of state dollars to pay the salaries of our state employed researchers who work with embryonic stem lines.
a.. Senate Bill 1695 would prohibit the use of state supported labs for embryonic stem cell research even if the research money comes from federal grants.
a.. Under Senator Ogden’s bill, researchers will face a choice of leaving state institutions or stopping their research. The state of Texas will likely lose our best researchers, their staff, their research grant money and their graduate students and medical students to other states and countries that appreciate good science and good medicine.
a.. Under Senator Ogden’s bill, cancer research conducted at the newly established Cancer Research Initiative, and research into other life threatening diseases such as Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s and diabetes will be severely limited.
a.. Senator Ogden’s bill would halt the gains we have made at better understanding how cells function and where malignancies or mutations occur and why. Researchers have repeatedly said that studying embryonic stem cells helps in the development of adult stem cell therapies.
WHAT YOU MIGHT WISH TO SAY:
I urge Senator Ogden to abandon his plans to push SB 1695 in Senate Finance Committee.
As a state with premier research institutions, citizens across the country are hopefully awaiting treatments and cures for life threatening diseases and conditions that may be discovered in Texas .
Texas has too much to lose in banning the funding of ethical, regulated embryonic stem cell research.
I urge Senator Ogden to carefully consider the human and economic losses in not supporting legal, ethical and safe embryonic stem cell research in this state.
Here is my letter (Don Reed)
Dear Senator Ogden:
First, thank you for being a Senator-- I am sure it is never an easy job!
As the father of a paralyzed young man, Roman Reed, I am deeply distressed by SB 1695. I am very familiar with embryonic stem cell research, having been the citizen sponsor of a small law in California , the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act of 1999. “Roman’s Law” funded the first state-sponsored embryonic stem cell research in the nation—the spinal cord injury research experiment which goes to human trials this Summer.
I have seen it work. On March 1, 2002 , in the laboratory named after my son (the Roman Reed Laboratory, within the Reeve-Irvine Research Institute at UC Irvine) I held in my hand a laboratory rat which had been paralyzed, but which walked again, thanks to embryonic stem cell research.
Biblically, I tend to go along with Psalm 139, which says, "He knit me together in my mother's womb". That is where an individual life begins. Scientifically, as you know, it is biologically impossible to create a child without a mother's womb-- and accordingly, cells in a Petri dish can never become a child.
I respect your right to your views, Senator Ogden, but please be aware there are millions of Americans who suffer every day, and who want the research to move forward.
Do please reconsider your advocacy for SB 1695. If enacted into law, it would slow the progress of Lone Star scientists as they work their way toward cure.
Thank you,
Don C. Reed
Sponsor, Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act
Founder and Co-Chair, Californians for Cures
Don Reed is also Vice President of Public Policy for Americans for Cures Foundation; opinions voiced here as an individual may or may not reflect those of the Foundation.
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