Publication Date: Wednesday, February 25, 2004
HEALTH CARE
Battlelines drawn over stem-cell research
Battlelines drawn over stem-cell research
(February 25, 2004) Local families, scientists advocate proposed ballot measure
by Don Kazak
Palo Alto attorney Robert Klein has a simple reason for helping spearhead a state ballot measure that could open the door for controversial medical research -- his son.
"When you have a child who has a life-threatening, chronic disease, as a parent you are motivated to find anything that will save their life," he said.
Klein's son, Jordan, 13, has juvenile diabetes -- a disease that could benefit from research using embryonic stem cells, which is now all but banned by federal policy.
Klein is part of an effort headed by a Southern California group, Californians for Stem Cell Research and Cures, that aims to qualify a measure for the November state ballot that would create $295 million a year over a 10-year period for stem cell research.
Two Stanford scientists, Dr. Irv Weissman, director of Stanford's Institute for Cancer/Stem Cell Biology, and Nobel Laureate Paul Berg are scientific advisors to the effort.
The ballot measure, if successful, would make California a center for such research, probably luring scientists from elsewhere.
Stem cell research has been caught up in controversy in recent years, with many concerned that it could lead to human cloning. In August 2001 research was further complicated when President George W. Bush passed a federal policy limiting the number of embryonic stem cell lines and federal funds available to scientists.
Weismann is one of a group of doctors nationally who continue to work with stem cells. The most promising work is with human embryonic stem cells, the period before the cells become specialized. However, that work has ground to a halt since Bush's policy.
Those stem cells come from fertilization clinics. Scientists are interested in finding a more diverse pool of stem cells to better understand diseases related to genetic deficiencies.
Weissman estimated that 30-50 percent of the patients in local hospitals are there "because they have the wrong genetics" handed down from their parents, cells with defects that open the door to such illnesses as juvenile diabetes and Lou Gerhrig's disease.
"We can now see if we can fix the gene to eliminate the disease," Weissman said. "The potential from all of this is really large."
But the president "has prevented anyone from doing any of this research," Weissman said. "To do this, we have to get non-federal money."
The ballot measure would skirt Bush's policy by opening up a new revenue source. If successful, it would make California a center for stem cell research, probably luring scientists from elsewhere.
"This could lead to the cures we are looking for," said Chad Griffin, spokesperson for the group behind the ballot measure. He said many of the families who banded together to support the initiative "had worked together in Washington (trying to change national policy), with increasing frustration."
The group needs the signatures of 900,000 registered voters by April 16 to qualify the measure for the ballot, and Griffin is confident the group will reach that goal.
Massachusetts, home of Harvard and MIT - where another pre-eminent stem cell scientist is working - is considering a similar law permitting embryonic stem cell research.
"The restrictions at the federal level really crippled that research," Robert Klein said. "The real door to research has been shut."
Don Kazak can be e-mailed at dkazak@paweekly.com
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