Governor Brown Vetoes Paralysis Cure Research Bill

The Governor of California has just dealt a devastating blow to paralysis cure research.

Yesterday afternoon, driving home after a trip to Sacramento to talk to Secretary of Health Diana Dooley, who was very supportive about the research, I received a phone call on my cell. It was from Jeff Barbosa, legislative director to Assemblymember Bob Wieckowski.

Uh-oh. Continue Reading »

No traffic fines for research

AB 1657, which would devote $1 from certain traffic tickets to fund spinal cord injury research, is well-meaning but misguided. If the state is going to increase traffic fines, the revenue should pay for underfunded basic services.

Who would be so cruel, so selfish, as to deny money for spinal cord injury research? Unless you wish further harm to people who are paralyzed or otherwise disabled by spinal injury, certainly you want Californians to open up their wallets to fund studies, right? Continue Reading »

Embryonic Stem-Cell Funding Challenge Should Be Dismissed, U.S. Says

A challenge to funding of human embryonic stem-cell studies should be dismissed after an appeals court found the government-backed research to be lawful, the Obama administration said.

The Justice Department in a filing today urged U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth to end a lawsuit that seeks to block the U.S. Health and Human Services Department and the National Institutes of Health from spending federal funds on researching human embryonic stem-cells, known as hESC.

Last year, Lamberth temporarily barred U.S. agencies from funding human embryonic research, finding it likely violated a 1996 law called the Dickey-Wicker Amendment. The law prevents the government from spending money on research where a human embryo is damaged or destroyed. Continue Reading »

Rick Hansen set to re-enact his Man in Motion journey

Relay involving 7,000 Canadians chosen from 600 communities along the route will begin on 25th anniversary of historic trek

When an exhausted but triumphant Rick Hansen pushed himself into Vancouver on May 22, 1987, after circling the globe in a wheelchair for two years, the miles were all behind him but the journey was just beginning. Continue Reading »

Promise of stem cells fulfilled

clinical trial in Atlanta, Georgia, is proof that informed public debate is the key to medical advance

IF I’m honest, my first reaction to recent reports that the first human embryonic stem cell trial had begun on spinal patients in Atlanta was one of nonchalance.

Not because of its potential significance to those of us with spinal injuries — desperate for any news of progress — but because of the stop-start nature of the trial, plagued as it has been by legislative and regulatory restraints. Continue Reading »

Second anniversary of Michigan embryonic stem cell research vote

On Oct 4-6, Michigan welcomes the World Stem Cell Summit. Honored at the conference are Governor Jennifer Granholm and Alfred Taubman. Dr. Joseph Kincaid of Right to Life responds.

On November 4, 2008, Michigan voters, by a narrow margin, passed Proposal 2. Proposal 2 became an amendment to our Constitution that permitted unused human embryos in our in vitro fertilization clinics to be destroyed and their embryonic stem cells (ESC) used for research. The hopes were that this research would lead to cures for diseases devastating our society such as spinal cord injuries, diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, Parkinsonism, etc. Continue Reading »

Governor signs spinal cord injury research bill

San Jose, CA (October 3) — Students and teachers rejoiced! Athletes rejoiced! So with parents and advocates of spinal cord injury research, who applauded Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signing into law the bill extending the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Act which was set to expire January 1, 2011.

The bill was sponsored by Assemblyman Alberto Torrico enabling the state to continue California’s spinal cord research fund through the University of California. Continue Reading »

U.S. Can Continue Stem-Cell Funding, Court Says

Scientists who use embryonic stem cells for research can continue to receive U.S. taxpayer funding while the government challenges a lower-court order that barred federal support, an appeals court said.

The ruling by U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington yesterday puts on hold an order cutting off funding by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, which the government argued would cause irreparable harm to researchers, taxpayers, and scientific progress while the case is appealed. Continue Reading »

Appeals court grants stay in stem cell case

The federal government will be allowed to keep funding stem cell research — for now.

An Aug. 23 ruling by a U.S. District Court judge barred federal funding of such research until an appeals court granted a stay Thursday that will allow the government to provide money until the case is heard before a federal appeals court, a process that could take several months.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth cited the Dickey-Webber amendment, a federal law that prohibits the use of federal funding for any research in which human embryos may be destroyed.

National Institutes of Health Director Francis S. Collins said in a statement after the initial ruling that the freezing of federal funding greatly threatens current research. Continue Reading »

First tests for stem cell therapy are near

Even as supporters of human embryonic stem cell research are reeling from last week’s sudden cutoff of federal funding, another portentous landmark is quietly approaching: the world’s first attempt to carefully test the cells in people.

Scientists are poised to inject cells created from embryonic stem cells into some patients with a progressive form of blindness and others with devastating spinal cord injuries. That’s a welcome step for researchers eager to move from the laboratory to the clinic and for patients hoping for cures. But beyond being loathsome to those with moral objections to any research using cells from human embryos, the tests are worrying many proponents: Some argue that the experiments are premature, others question whether they are ethical, and many fear that the trials risk disaster for the field if anything goes awry. Continue Reading »