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By VANESSA RENÉE CASAVANT Di Scipio and Sally Temple, a stem cell researcher at Albany Medical Center, said the misrepresentations about the use of embryonic stem cells and where they come from are being spread like wildfire. Temple said the most common misconception about embryonic stem cells is that they are derived from terminated pregnancies. The truth is, she said, that stem cell lines are formed from unused portions of fertilized eggs by in-vitro fertilization clinics. "I want people to understand that these embryos are just a tiny cluster of cells they can't even see," she said. According to Temple, a clinic will usually fertilize about 12 eggs for a couple but will implant only about three to five of them. She said the rest of the fertilized eggs, in most cases, will be disposed. Very few clinics give couples the option of donating their eggs to research, although that could be changed through proper legislation, according to Temple. "It's transforming life into new life," Di Scipio said, "not taking life." Di Scipio, who was injured in a diving accident nearly six years ago, said the religious and right-to-life groups opposed to embryonic stem cell research are causing confusion by not having all the facts. "The majority of New Yorkers, Catholic or not, support this research," he said. Di Scipio's mother recently wrote a letter urging for embryonic stem cell research legislation and received more than 600 signatures from around the state. "It's not a matter of if this is gonna pass, but when it's
gonna pass. The Senate has to stop dragging its feet," he said. "This legislation continues to gather dust on the desks of the Senate," Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, said in his speech at the Family Planning Advocates conference last week. "We must legalize therapeutic cloning in this state this year." Other states, including California and New Jersey, have taken the initiative in spurring on research. California voters have agreed to a $3 billion bond-derived state fund for embryonic stem cell research and New Jersey's acting governor, Richard J. Cody, has proposed spending $380 million. Silver said it is shameful and inexcusable that New York government
has allowed California to take the lead. Temple and two members of the spinal cord injury research board joined Di Scipio. Paul Richter, a retired state trooper who was paralyzed from a spinal cord injury after being shot in the line of duty, initiated a bill that set up the spinal cord injury research board. The bill requires all funds received from motor vehicle violation fees, nearly $8.5 million annually, go directly toward spinal cord injury research. The board Richter serves on with Allen Carl, a doctor at the Albany Medical Center for Othopedic Surgeons, determines which research projects the money will fund. Richter said that more money needs to be spent on this research and
the state should fund it beyond $8.5 million. Some advocates opposed to the use of embryonic stem cells say adult stem cells offer the same kind of opportunities. Temple said embryonic stem cells are the only ones that can be used for spinal cord injuries because adult stem cells are highly specialized and require a genetic alteration beyond their capability. She said because embryonic stem cells have not decided what they are going to be, they do not require the same genetic alteration. "This is an exciting technology, a whole new thing. We need to embrace it, regulate it, and fund it," she said in an interview after the meeting. Temple said she respects the reservations that come from religious beliefs about genetic alteration, but compared them to the ones surrounding genetic testing only a few years ago. She said people think nothing of DNA tests or finding out if they carry a gene that predisposes them to certain diseases. State Sen. Liz Krueger, D,WF,G-Manhattan, agreed with Temple regarding government funding being a way to regulate embryonic stem cell research. She said that it is important to clarify where these cells are coming from and how they can be used. "Several states and countries have already passed laws to regulate cloning," Krueger said in a press release, "New York must officially go on the record in order to prevent possible abuses." Krueger, along with state Sen. David A. Paterson, D,L-Manhattan, held a press conference five days before Di Scipio's meeting with Bruno's adviser announcing companion bills that would define and fund this kind of research in New York. Krueger proposed similar legislation last year that would have authorized stem cell research to be conducted while limiting the sale of embryonic fetal tissue and prohibiting human cloning. When drafting her bill, Krueger said she received the input of many experts from the field of embryonic stem cell research. She said her bill is more in depth than what the Assembly passed last year, that it specifically defines what is acceptable in regard to therapeutic cloning. Krueger also said it is vital to the economy of New York for the government to invest in this research because it stands to lose the "synergy of great medical minds" contributing to biomedical research in the state. Paterson's bill proposes a system of $1 billion in funding similar to that of California's. "Certainly, the California model is our chief competition and I think it ought to raise a red flag that we are going to lose the next big high-tech market to a handful of other tech-savvy states," Paterson said in a press release. Temple said researchers are scared about if there are going to be repercussions from the federal government for states taking the initiative, but added that it has to be done. She said many prominent stem cell researchers agree the lines President Bush approved for research are contaminated and unless new lines are developed, research will come to a halt. | |
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