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Austin American-Statesman
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Smith: Stem Cell Research Policy is Adding Insult to Injury
John E. Smith, PATIENT ADVOCATE
For politicians, the only thing more opportunistic than kissing babies is posing with someone in a wheelchair. Yet it has gone politely unmentioned for five years that President Bush chose to spurn this segment of America's at-risk citizens.
His executive order of August 2001 limited federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. Specifically, the excess embryos at in-vitro fertilization clinics were off limits to researchers seeking federal grant money. This policy put the kibosh on one of the most promising fields of scientific inquiry.
The research does limp along. Individual states attempt to fill the funding void at the National Institutes of Health. But their efforts are hobbled by dogged interference from religious conservatives. Venture capitalists seem willing yet wary to invest in such a divisive environment.
The net effect is that stem cell research has been outsourced to other countries. England, China and Singapore are three committing to the future of regenerative medicine. Our administration's lack of focus portends we will be playing catch-up for years to come.
This scuttling of stem cell research is contemptuous of truth, science and compassion. Patients fighting conditions such as Parkinson disease, multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injury are bereft of options.
The president neglects to mention his policy condemns living human beings to the caprice of their circumstances. Five years have been lost to a plan that neither works nor makes sense. Not a single embryo has been saved. Still, in some circles the president is lauded for having devised a workable compromise on stem cells. Not, however, in the circles in which I travel.
I am an advocate for those with spinal cord injury and, by extension, all with neuro-degenerative diseases leading to paralysis. I take exception to any suggestion that Bush deserves credit for promoting the very research his policy emasculated.
Similarly, the maneuvering of Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader, is offensive. Evidently, those paralyzed are such an insignificant voting bloc that politicians can add insult to their injury with impunity.
Sure, they make good props for publicity: photo ops or rallies that might generate an empathetic sound bite. But when it comes to proactive legislation relative to their situation, initiative to move bills forward for a vote cannot be roused.
The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act intends to expand the president's limited policy. Included will be those same excess embryos from IVF clinics. Its aim is to correct the indefensible tenets of the original proclamation.
Surprisingly, it passed in the House of Representatives in May 2005. Frist, ever the opportunist, came out in favor of it a month later just before the summer recess.
With his endorsement, proponents expected a vote after Labor Day. When it did not reach the floor for debate by Christmas, Frist promised a vote early in the new year. Its passage is assured if only the senator will put it on the agenda. Yet, it's now late June and he waits, as do the 70 percent of Americans who favor the research.
Again, someone in power gets it both ways. His departure from the president's original policy bestowed on him mantles of compassion and independence. Yet, by stalling the vote, he protects his boss from the dilemma of an embarrassing veto. Doing so also shields Republican cohorts from the controversy of an up or down vote.
The lame duck majority leader plays those in need like fish. They take the bait of the visionary investigations of stem cell science. He allows them to swim in the stream of his good intentions. Unwittingly, they are now hooked to his ambitious campaign for president. This is the definitive insult. Two years from now, when he needs some wheelchair photos, he'll just reel them in.
Ultimately, the positions taken by Frist and Bush distill to perception and talking points, not substance. Their opposing views on the research dovetail into a single strategy for mutual electoral success. The embryos are not saved, and the disadvantaged are not served.
Smith, a writer, patient advocate and postmaster in Oregon, moderates forums at www.carecure.org. His son, Noah, has a spinal injury.
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