From The Daily Herald, 10/25/06:
http://www.dailyherald.com/politics/story.asp?id=242495
6th District race heats up with stem cell debate
By Marni Pyke and Eric Krol
Daily Herald Staff Writers
This summer just a handful of reporters and supporters came to a press
conference held by Democratic candidate Tammy Duckworth on embryonic
stem cell research.
Tuesday, more than 200 people and a media mob attended a Duckworth
rally dealing with the same subject -- thanks to the star power of
actor Michael J. Fox.
Big names are now common currency in the white-hot race for the 6th
Congressional District race between Duckworth and Republic state Sen.
Peter Roskam of Wheaton, who received a plug from President Bush’s
visit earlier this month.
This Monday, Roskam talked about national security with David Beamer,
the father of Sept. 11, 2001 hero Todd Beamer, while Duckworth got a
helping hand from former President Bill Clinton.
Fox, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, joined with Duckworth, an
Iraq war veteran from Hoffman Estates, in making a case for the
government to help fund embryonic stem cell research.
"We have the opportunity to save lives and create new lives," Fox said
during the rally in Wheaton.
He added that 70 percent of Americans favor embryonic stem cell
research as a means to treating diseases such as Parkinson’s and
diabetes.
"We need to claim this and say, yes, we have the technology and
know-how. If America doesn’t do this -- who will?"
Roskam opposes embryonic stem cell research but agrees with using
adult and umbilical cord stem cells to seek treatments for diseases.
"I am strongly in favor of stem cell research and believe what we
ought to be doing is investing heavily in the areas where it’s been
most promising and most hopeful, and without question, that is adult
stem cell research," Roskam said.
Duckworth, who lost both legs in Iraq said, "stem cell research will
not benefit me, but it will benefit millions of Americans who can’t
use their limbs because of spinal cord injuries or who suffer from
chronic diseases. Stem cell research holds out hope they could live
healthier lives."
"Today people are allowing politics to trump not only hope but
science."
Stem cells have the ability to divide themselves and can be used to
heal damaged cells.
Embryonic stem cells, obtained through fertility clinics, have the
potential to adapt themselves to all body cell types, unlike adult
stem cells, according to the National Institutes of Health.
As counter programming, Roskam held a news conference with Roy
Pollack, a 63-year-old Wheaton man who has been treated for
non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma five times, including once with adult stem
cells.
Pollack, like Roskam, rejects the notion that embryonic stem cell
research will yield results.
"I see a dead end and I think it’s bad science. It’s not proven," said
Pollack, who hopes to get more adult stem cells from a donor by next
month.
Roskam, who opposes abortion, said there’s a "moral ambiguity about
the destruction of a human embryo. The more you talk to people about
that, there is a reluctance there."
Among the speakers at the Duckworth rally was Josh Bowler, a
31-year-old Glen Ellyn man who became a quadriplegic after an
accidental fall in 2004
He spoke of his "thirst" to find a cure by having embryonic stem cell
research funded and his disappointment when President Bush vetoed
federal financing this summer.
"I realize that someday soon someone will come along and sign that
paper and that would quench our thirst," Bowler said.
In connection with the stem cell issue, the Roskam camp charged that
Duckworth supported human cloning, an allegation she emphatically
denied.
The 6th District includes parts of northeast DuPage and northwest Cook
counties.
_________________________________________________________
The real issue is that Religious Right-supported Republicans oppose
life-saving stem cell research for religious reasons.
Harry
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