Stem cell research

Imagine what it would be like to have a family member cured of a degenerative disease. What it would be like to have a deaf baby hear or a cancer patient cured.
What scares me more than death is a long, painful illness or watching one of my children die from an illness. I have spent a great deal of time in doctor’s waiting rooms and in hospitals with my children and I know that people who appear healthy can have severe health problems.

Currently, there is a lot of research being done with stem cells and genetic engineering. Tonight, ABC news had a spotlight on a stem cell procedure that was used to cure blindness in people who had experienced burns on the cornea. As I think about the possibilities for this new medical technology, I don’t the United States doesn’t fund research. To ease suffering, to provide a higher quality of life for people with injuries or illnesses, and to create new technological innovations are all beneficial to the citizens of our country.

To ban stem cell research is the equivalent of starving people refusing to eat food because it is from genetically engineered seeds or a person refusing an organ transplant from a dead person. The person takes a moral stand, but the cost in human suffering is very high.

The Catholic Church placed a ban on scientific discovery during the Middle Ages. We also call that time period the “Dark Ages.” When scientific inquiry is banned, it will simply go underground, as it did during the Middle Ages, or to other countries. The scientific inquiry will still occur. The problem with the inquiry going underground is that it will not be regulated. The problem with the inquiry going to other countries is that the United States will lose its technological edge in the world economy. This is what happened when President Bush banned certain types of stem cell research in the United States. It went overseas.

I was happy when President Obama removed some of the barriers to what he called “responsible stem cell research” however, I believe that the government should increase funding of stem cell research or alternatively it should enhance the research incentives. This could save the lives of our children or grandchildren and it could make our own old age easier.