80 Nobel Prize winners have urged the president to fund stem cell research,
asserting it may soon cure Alzheimers, Diabetes, ALS, and Parkinson's, as well
many other diseases - even heart disease. Many right-to life organizations
oppose such research, however, claiming it destroys the lives of unborn
children.
The petition, including 750 pages of signatures and comments by persons with
chronic illnesses and other citizens, was presented by Ilyce Randell, a
Canavan's Disease advocate. Canavan's is an incurable fatal childhood illness.
Her son Max, who was at the meeting, suffers from the disease. "Canavan's
is a disease which strikes only 400 children a year," said Ms. Randell.
"Without therapies that can be applied to many different illnesses, which
are likely to result from stem cell research, Canavan's will never attract
enough dollars to produce a cure. Stem cell research offers the only hope for
Max to live a normal life."
Wasson said members of the Internet forum decided to write a petition after
President Bush, who was expected to nullify the present guidelines, referred the
matter to Thompson for review. The delay presented an opportunity to give a
voice to those with the biggest stake in stem cell research -- the chronically
ill. They put the petition online (http://www.petitiononline.com/stmcll/petition.html),
and began a grassroots campaign to collect signatures, contacting family,
friends, and disease organizations. Those contacted were asked to forward the
request to others on their own e-mail lists. They also created a website to
provide information about stem cells.
"The response was phenomenal," said Wasson. In addition to signatures
by the chronically ill, the petition garnered signatures from leading scientists
such as Ole Isacson, head of Parkinson's research at Harvard. Dan Perry, chair
of the CURE coalition of 123 organizations that has urged President Bush to
delay a decision on the guidelines, said "Congratulations...the compelling
voice of individuals and families confronting Parkinson's, ALS, and other
devastating health problems is the most potent weapon we have in this
fight."
"I wish we had more time to gather signatures before sending the petition
to Washington. But with a decision on the horizon, this was one party we didn't
want to be late for," said John Davis, a petition organizer and ALS
sufferer.
CONTACT:
Greg Wasson, 707/795-7017
gmwpark@aol.com