Embryonic stem cell research’s promoters want us to believe this research will be a cure all for health issues, and disabilities. The real truth is there is no scientific proof that the exploitation of the stem cells from unborn children will produce any of the cures or any of the remedies that the promoters have been promising.
In fact, the embryonic stem cell experiments that have been developed so far have resulted only in the production of tumors. This is primarily why private companies haven’t funded this research. They know the research doesn’t hold the promise that activists would have us believe.
However, there is unanimous agreement among scientists that the current use of adult stem cells has produced therapeutic results for patients suffering from quite a few debilitating ailments. Bone marrow transplants are in fact adult stem cell based treatment. Scientists have also found that the research on the stem cells from the blood found in umbilical cords and the stem cells from placentas are already proving remarkably helpful in treating several serious medical conditions. Anionic fluid has been recently found to contain yet another kind of stem cells that seem to hold therapeutic potential.
Being there isn’t a spot of proof that embryonic stem cell research could help the sick or the disabled. We have to wonder, if these “scientists” truly want to heal people, then why aren’t they pushing as hard for more funding for the research on the stem cells from adults, umbilical cords, or placentas?
I truly believe the only reason why the embryonic stem cell “researchers” are aggressively pursuing this research is they want to achieve human cloning! I have many questions regarding the potential of this research. I believe that embryonic stem cell research will lead to very real medical abuses and the exploitation of women and children. There is ultimately the potential for the creation of a new class of human beings; those designated for the purpose of “experimentation.”
How much of a stretch is it to deny human clones protection as human beings when our society denies these protections to traditionally conceive pre-born human beings. Though I don’t dispute the fact that the ability to treat or heal suffering people is noble; I also grant that not all methods of achieving this are legally or morally acceptable.
The New Jersey Senate is trying to pass the Bill S1091, which will place a question on the November ballot that asks New Jersey voters to borrow $230 million for stem cell research and Bill A3186, a bill that will appropriate $500 million for the same purpose. These bills are part of a billion dollar package to fund stem cell research and build a facility at Rutgers. On December 14, 2006, the New Jersey Assembly passed a $270 million bill to fund stem cell facilities. On December 18, 2006, the Corzine administration announced that $10 million will be made available for research grants, with $7 million going to embryonic stem cell research. Governor Corzine would have us believe that these expenditures are in answer to the absence of support at the federal level. As an experienced venture capitalist, he must realize the reason for the absence of support from the private sector. The potential just isn’t there and private money, unlike public money follows demonstrable potential.
The New Jersey state government is facing a budget shortfall of four billion dollars. I don’t know why our senate is considering funding the building of a facility just for academic egos. In 2005 and 2006, when I testified before the New Jersey Senate Finance Committee in opposition to the funding of stem cell research without prohibitions against embryonic cell research, none of the researchers seeking to feed at the public troth could justify with any degree of surety that embryonic stem cell research was anything more than a potential financial black hole. The answers were just not there.
The Bill S1091 passed the Senate last June and Governor Corzine is eager to sign it into law.
If the legislature approves S1091 and or A3196, a question will be placed on the ballot asking voters to approve hundreds of millions of dollars for "stem cell research." The question placed before the voters will be purposely vague and not define what type of research will be approved so New Jersey voters will not be aware of these important facts. .
Senator Bucco sought to amend the bill to prohibit embryonic stem cell research but his amendment failed on a 23 to 14 vote. Be prepared for a “full court press” put on by those in support of these expenditures. I predict an endless parade of stories featuring disabled, ill and dying people for whom the cure is just your vote away. This was the experience this last election in Missouri where a bill prohibiting embryonic stem cell research was on the ballot. Millions of dollars were spent to convince voters of potential that just doesn’t exist.
New Jersey is the butt of many political jokes and probably rightly so. Our legislators haven’t been able to come up with a plan to mitigate our out of control property taxes. Several of them are suspected of turning the University of Medicine and Dentistry into a hiring hall for the well connected and a personal piggy bank. Imagine what they can do with a potentially open check book in the guise of medical research.
As an extremely disabled woman, I have no right to let a child die, in order to give my body even an excellent likelihood to get better let alone fulfill the marginal promise that open ended stem cell research offers! What gives the entitlement to our political leaders, physicians, scientists, or the disabled to say who should live or die?
The characteristic of American law has been its considerate protection of the lives of individuals, particularly the vulnerable. This country’s historic protection of human life and human rights comes from an encouragement of the essential dignity of every human being. This country’s long-established protection of human life and human rights comes from an upholding of the necessary dignity of every human being. The global structure of human rights law is founded on the principle that when the dignity of one human being is assaulted, all of us are endangered. We have to ask our leaders and each other, what happened to our country’s humanity and morals? As people of God, we must fight this extremely important war for life.