Regardless of politics, we are all united by the need for health. Chronic disease and disability drags the economy and ruins families.
Stem cell research offers hope of cure-- but it must protected,during the lame duck session of Congress.
Please read on, for the sake of that someone you love who suffers now-- like my son who is paralyzed and my sister who has cancer.
GETTING READY FOR THE FIGHT OF OUR LIVES
By Don C. Reed
Two-seventeen AM, Tuesday morning. Election day.
Last night Gloria and I watched the San Francisco Giants win the World Series. It was lovely. The formerly owned-by-George-Bush Rangers are a great ballclub, but the self-described "band of misfits" from San Francisco defeated them.
San Francisco Giants vs. the Texas Rangers.
And San Francisco—the home of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine—triumphed.
I thought about former President George Bush, how hard he fought against stem cell research.
And yet—he did allow one narrow shining thread of research to go forward.
Let the record show that as well. He deserves credit.
Remember also that it happened George Bush was encouraged by a massive wave of enthusiasm from supporters of research for cure.
From that effort came the first use of the Presidentially-approved embryonic stem cell lines. This was Hans Keirstead’s work to cure paralysis, funded by the California law named after my son: the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury research Act of 1999.
Today, Geron is taking that stem cell line to human trials embryonic stem cells: the first in human history.
It is our job to see that this success is not the last.
In a couple hours, Gloria and I will go to the polls, to sit there all day and help people cast their votes: as is our right, our responsibility, and our joy.
Six AM till about nine or ten in the evening.
Long day, followed by a long night (maybe weeks long with mail-in vote counting)—and then we will know the results of the most money-flooded campaign in history.
Regardless of the outcome, we dare not wait.
We must get ready for the fight of our lives.
Passing the Stem Cell Research Advancement Act (HR 4808 in the House, S 3766 in the Senate) which I think of as the Stem Cell Research PROTECTION Act) will be one to tell our grandkids about.
Every scientist who ever said, "Ugh, politics!" must change attitudes now, and fight beside us, or watch stem cell research be shut into a dark closet.
Every patient advocate like you and I must take a nap, stretch, and then--
Get ready, folks.
The lame duck session of Congress is our target.
I enjoyed the victory of the San Francisco Giants; I do not expect I will be as thrilled by the outcome of today’s political battle.
But no matter what, the science of hope must be protected.
Funding must be preserved; we will not allow this generation’s chances at cures to be shunted aside.
During the six weeks or so of the lame duck Congress, we must pass the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act.
Few will be eager for a battle of this scope. Congress will be exhausted, emotionally and physically drained by the astonishingly difficult campaign they just went through.
Some will have lost, through no fault of their own.
Yet however much we sympathize, we dare not allow them to "go quietly into that good night."
We ask our friends in the House and Senate to stand us now, in this our greatest fight.
Remember that song the soldiers used to sing, in World War Two?
"We did it before, and we can do it again, yes, we can do it again—we did it before—and we’ll do it again!"
Yes, we can do it again.
It will be hard, of course, but so is everything we do.
Do we not ask the scientists to do the impossible with the invisible, fighting for cures of incurable diseases? We must ask no less of ourselves.
Every parent of a child with an illness deemed incurable: every adult who has been told, there is no hope; every family who watches a loved parent decline prematurely—we must act.
Exactly as we did before.
And maybe more so.
Remember the immortal words of Winston Churchill, spoken at a time when the Nazi bombs were falling on England, and it was by no means certain that the enemy could be defeated:
"Let us so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire last for a thousand years, men will still say, this was their finest hour."
This is our hour. We must organize now.
The bill will be called the Stem Cell Research Advancement Act, and it will be very similar to the laws passed by the preceding two Congresses, each by strong margins, only to be vetoed by former President George Bush, on ideological grounds.
We need protection against further ideological attacks.
At the bottom of this page are two letters from the flagship organization of our movement: CAMR, the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research.
There are many fine groups I have supported over the years, too many to name here.
But there is only one CAMR. (visit www.camradvocacy.org)
It is the group of groups, nearly a hundred, large and small. Historically, it has been there since the beginning of embryonic stem cell research. It was CAMR which organized the past two great attempts to pass the Stem Cell Research Act of 2005 and 2007—both of which passed the Congress and the Senate before being stopped by Mr. Bush—and it will be CAMR
which takes us over the top.
In the House, we must pass the DeGette/Castle bill, HR 4808. The Senate counterpart is the Specter bill, SB 3766.
There will be adjustments made to both bills, to be sure they offer sufficient protections.
Here’s what matters. We face two giant threats.
First, the court case, Sherley v. Sebelius, which boils down to one wrong sentence: that it is the "unambiguous intent of Congress" that embryonic stem cell research should NOT be funded.
That is false, and we must prove it so in law; the intent of Congress must be made absolutely plain—that the federal government IS authorized to fund embryonic stem cell research.
Secondly, some Republicans (not all: 58% of their membership supports embryonic stem cell research) but some among that party have called for a complete and total ban on embryonic stem cell research. We dare not forget that.
We need some insulation around our research, to prevent any change of political leadership
from shutting down our field: stealing our hard-earned victories.
So, we need a law, and we need to organize for it now.
Three things we must do: first, contact our own Senator and Representative, and second, ask our groups to do the same, and third, our groups need to coordinate with CAMR.
CAMR is in Washington, and they know all the players. We in the grassroots groups need to work together, and CAMR is the time-tested way to do it.
Now here is a message from Lisa Hughes, President of CAMR, followed by my friend Jennifer Poulikidas, with the latest update, and a simple but crucial action request.
"CAMR Members:
... it is critical that Congress act to ensure that federal funding for this important research is no longer vulnerable to political or ideological challenge.
CAMR urges all our member organizations to reach out to your own memberships quickly. Ask your members to immediately contact their House and Senate representatives in strong support of H.R. 4808 in the House and S. 3766 in the Senate. Ask for Representatives and Senators to cosponsor these bills and to insist on passing these bills this year.
As you know, during the 109th and 110th Congresses, the House and Senate both overwhelmingly passed bills explicitly authorizing the federal government to fund hESC research. Unfortunately, neither bill was signed into law, as President Bush chose to veto them.
The 111th Congress must now act: we call on Congress to pass a bill this year that explicitly authorizes the NIH to fund hESC research.
As Congress returns home until after the November elections, stem cell research advocates must reach out to their House and Senate Members and urge them to support stem cell research protective legislation.
The Stem Cell Research Advancement Acts – H.R. 4808 in the House and S. 3766 in the Senate – would both codify President Obama’s Executive Order ensuring NIH support for hESC research.
These bills provide a basis for protecting the NIH’s ability to continue to support the important scientific work that provides much hope to millions of patients and their families. As the bills progress, they may be further improved. We cannot wait to make our voices heard. Our action must begin now and continue relentlessly until Congress passes important stem cell legislation.
CAMR will continue to be in contact with you throughout the October recess, with advocacy updates and further requests. We need all your organizations and all your memberships to ignite the sense of urgency and passion that resulted in the Congressional victories during past Congresses. We cannot win without full involvement of all your great organizations.
And we must win.
Please reach out to your Members of Congress and urge passage of important stem cell research legislation.
Ask your House Representatives to cosponsor and pass H.R. 4808 and your Senators to cosponsor and pass S. 3766 this year. The "Stem Cell Research Advancement Act" will provide protection for NIH to continue to support the critical life-saving research that provides hope to millions of patients and their families.
This is a perfect time to reach out to your Congressional representatives at home. They must hear from you loudly and clearly and often that stem cell research is a priority that you expect them to support and act on. After the elections, Congress will return to Washington to take care of unfinished business. Stem cell research must be on their agenda."
Lisa Hughes, President, CAMR
Now the latest from Jennifer Poulakidas, legislative VP of CAMR:
Many thanks to those organizations which activated their memberships and encouraged contacts to Capitol Hill. We need these contacts to Congress to continue and, frankly, to dramatically increase.
Please ask your friends and memberships to reach out to their Congressional representatives in their local offices.
What we need to do is get the phones in the local offices ringing off the hook about stem cell research, even if the DC offices ultimately take the comments.
The message continues to be the same:
Ask House Representatives to cosponsor and pass H.R. 4808 and Senators to cosponsor and pass S. 3766 this year. The "Stem Cell Research Advancement Act" will provide protection for NIH to continue to support the critical life-saving research that provides hope to millions of patients and their families.
The importance of this "local" activity cannot be overemphasized.
We need to build up some serious momentum of constituent interest to have any chance of prevailing this year.
Thank you, as always, for your action and involvement.
Jennifer Poulakidas, CAMR, VP of Legislative Affairs
*Individuals can use the following websites to link to the web pages of their local U.S. House and Senate representatives. Once on a Member’s website, there will usually be a "contact" link. That link will have information about local offices, including phone and fax numbers.
LET’S GET THOSE LOCAL PHONES RINGING!!
http://www.house.gov/...
http://www.senate.gov/...
Jennifer Poulakidas (jpoulakidas@aplu.org, 202.478.6053) for any questions or input.
P.S.
For your convenience, here is a suggested alert to your membership and friends:
"Please reach out to your Members of Congress today and urge passage of important stem cell research legislation. Ask your House Representatives to cosponsor and pass H.R. 4808 and your Senators to cosponsor and pass S. 3766 this year. The "Stem Cell Research Advancement Act" will provide protection for NIH to continue to support the critical life-saving research that provides hope to millions of patients and their families.
P.S. From Don: have a great day-- and take a friend to the polls with you when you vote!