Viable cures for serious illnesses may be five years down the road, maybe ten.
But we're NEVER gonna get there with the the Bush administration's current policy to kill stem cell science.
And a large part of the reason for the public's tacit acceptance of this is a simple lack of knowledge. Simplifiy this debate. Help people understand that 'stem cell research' doesn't mean 'putting babies in a Cuisinart' (as Bushco would have them believe).
A personal story from which talking points abound, in moreville...
When I was campaiging for Kerry in Ohio last October, I brought up several issues with family members I thought were persuadable, or on the fence about the election.
Case in point: My cousin K. had fertility problems and was only able to reprodice via in-vitro fertilization. After her last preganancy--years ago--she was faced with a dilemma: what to do with the 10 fertilized eggs still frozen, that would not be used. I asked her about this when one day and she started crying out of the blue. It costs a lot of money to keep the fertilized eggs frozen, and the deadline was drawing near. Her perceived options: discard them (ie, destroy them), or donate them to another couple.
My cousin is a fairly conservative professed Christian and she couldn't bear the thought of sloughing off the embryos. Naturally, she was also very afraid of the future implications donating them might bring about twenty years down the road--as in, um, "Hi Mommy."
I suggested that she donate them to a stem cell research facility in Canada or Europe so that they could be used to help end terrible diseases like Alzheimer's (which is afflicting our uncle), or Parkinson's (which is afflicting her father-in-law). She was shocked, because, as she put it, "All I've heard about stem cells is that it's like abortion or something."
She ended up finding a place for them in France this past winter--because it meant that much to her to, as she puts it, "do some good."
When explained simply and personally, this issue is a no-brainer. It worked for Ahhhnold. It worked for Corzine (http://www.corzineforgovernor.com/...).
For a similar story on the issue: http://www.npr.org/...
My point: by personalizing and simplifiying the issue, and relating it to in-vitro fertilization--a science once thought of as diabolical, I might add--we can win with this one.
This is good Democratic stuff, folks. Educate. Spread the word. '06 and '08 are around the corner.