Remove roadblocks to stem-cell research in Iowa
 

Remove roadblocks to stem-cell research in Iowa

By MEREDITH HAY and JEAN ROBILLARD
IOWA VIEW


February 15, 2007
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In the next few days, the Iowa General Assembly will have the opportunity of a generation: It can improve the quality of life for tens of thousands of Iowans by passing the Iowa Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative.

Stem cells hold enormous promise for treating and curing conditions such as diabetes, cancer, blindness and paralysis from spinal-cord injury, liver disease, heart disease, burns, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease and many others.

Embryonic stem cells have the potential to become any cell in the body, including brain cells, skin cells, liver cells, heart cells and so on. Therefore, human embryonic stem cells hold greater promise to cure diseases in patients than adult stem cells. But there is a snag. Five years ago, the Iowa Legislature passed a law that represents a significant roadblock to using embryonic stem cells for the treatment of disease.

Under this unfortunate law, which we hope will be nullified this week, both the patient and the patient's physician would be criminalized if they were to use a treatment derived from a stem-cell generation process called somatic cell nuclear transfer. That's right. Unless this law is changed, an Iowan could be arrested and jailed for receiving a treatment developed using this process. And so could that Iowan's doctor.

more:

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pb...702150364/1110