To the 58% of Republicans and the 70% of Independents who support embryonic stem cell research, I urge you to be careful with your vote,
REPUBLICANS WHO SUPPORT STEM CELL RESEARCH: Careful With Your Vote...
By Don C. Reed
To the 58% of Republicans who support embryonic stem cell research, and the 70% of Independents who feel the same—I urge you to vote your conscience.
Is there any issue more important than saving lives and easing suffering?
Is there any more effective way to lower medical costs than cure?
Do you want your state and nation to lead in the biomedical revolution?
Then be aware the Republican platform calls for a complete BAN on embryonic stem cell research, public and private.
Don’t take my word for it—go to the Republican National Platform and read it for yourself. Here it is:
"In that regard, we call for a major expansion of support for the stem-cell research that now shows amazing promise and offers the greatest hope for scores of diseases – with adult stem cells, umbilical cord blood, and cells reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells – without the destruction of embryonic human life. We call for a ban on human cloning and for a ban on the creation of or experimentation on human embryos for research purposes."
http://www.gop.com/...
Prettied up in words that sound positive until you look closely, this would be a death blow to embryonic stem cell research in this country.
Folks, this is something I know about.
I helped fund the first embryonic stem cell research to reach human trials.
The Geron spinal cord injury stem cell trials is built on the research of Dr. Hans Keirstead—and a California law named after my son paid for Keirstead’s research.
The Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act of 1999 paid for the research now being given to newly paralyzed men and women—just a few, maybe ten in all—but this is the first time in history such a cure treatment has ever been tried.
On March 1, 2002, in the University of California at Irvine, I held in my hands a rat which had been paralyzed, but which now was able to scamper across its play area, thanks to embryonic stem cells. And this was while my paralyzed son watched from his wheelchair...
From that day to this, that same research has been going through replication and tests (more than 20,000 pages of correspondence between Geron and the FDA!) to make sure it is as safe as possible before trying it on people.
Do not let this important work—with applications to so many other diseases—be blocked by political interference.
Be aware that (unlike the vast majority of Republicans and Independents) Republican leaders are under enormous pressure to go along with the Party Platform—if they don’t, the Party may well not fund them.
If your candidate does not specifically say he or she supports embryonic stem cell research (and remember this research is only done on those microscopic blastocysts already scheduled to be flushed away as medical waste) chances are, he or she will go quietly along with the ideological prohibitions on research.
If that matters to you, consider voting Democrat.
One hundred million Americans with chronic disease or disability need your support.
And that $1.65 trillion we spent on chronic disease last year—as much as the national debt for the same length of time-- can only be reduced by cure research.