Commentary—

Stem Cell Research Gives Families New Hope

By Nancy Johnson

Stem cell research is giving new hope to millions of American families with loved ones suffering from deadly and debilitating diseases.

“I am a mother of a 3½-year-old son who was diagnosed with Type I diabetes last year,” a constituent emailed me recently.

“We are hopeful there will be a cure in his lifetime, and we strongly encourage the use of stem cell research,” she said.

She is only one of the many parents of boys and girls with juvenile diabetes who have described to me the responsibilities these children must accept, as well as the harsh reality of living with the constant possibility of a debilitating health crisis.

Her hopes were buoyed late last month when the US House, with my strong support, passed legislation expanding federal support for embryonic stem cell research.

While its passage is a clear victory for the advancement of miracle medicine, it was unclear that this bill would even be brought up for a vote. A vote was assured only after four colleagues and I secured a pledge from House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) to bring stem cell research legislation to the floor.

In May, the Speaker delivered on his pledge, and Republicans and Democrats joined together to pass that bipartisan bill, fulfilling our moral responsibility to provide new federal funds to advance this potentially life-saving research.

Stem cells are basic building blocks for larger cells and tissues. Because stem cells have the unique ability to develop into virtually any cell in the body, many scientists firmly believe that this research has the potential to one day cure cancer, spinal cord injuries, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, heart disease, and diabetes — illnesses that affect millions of Americans.

This research has hit a roadblock, however. In August 2001, the Administration limited federal funding to research on stem cell “lines” created prior to that date.

But scientists say those stem cell lines are largely contaminated and unsuited for research. “For the full therapeutic potential of human embryonic stem cells to be reached,” a biomedical scientist living in Cheshire told me, “more lines must be readily available to researchers.”

This promising research must be done within a strict ethical framework. The bill I helped pass allows research only on stem cells derived from surplus embryos created for fertility treatment that would otherwise be discarded. Individuals who donate the embryos for research must provide informed, written consent and cannot be paid or compensated in any way. This framework will ensure sound, ethical research that we can all support and encourage.

Now that the House has acted, our focus turns to the US Senate. There, too, Republicans and Democrats are united in support of expanded stem cell research. I am optimistic that the Senate will pass this legislation this summer. 

Researchers have unearthed the origins of life and decoded the human genome. Medical discoveries have produced vaccinations that eradicated diseases once thought to be death sentences. Today, more and more illnesses can be treated with a pill instead of a scalpel. We should not slow medical progress by erecting artificial barriers to research.

I share the deep hope that a cure for juvenile diabetes is possible in the lifetime of my young constituent. For him and millions of other Americans suffering from disease, we have the moral responsibility to pursue every ethical avenue of discovery. Primary among them is stem cell research. On behalf of our families, it deserves the strongest federal support.

(Nancy Johnson is the US Representative for Connecticut’s Fifth Congressional District.)