Conservatives Call for Right Stem Cell Research

Ft. Hamilton Station, NY – State Chairman, Michael R. Long urged the Members of the Legislature to reject any legislative proposals for stem cell research that included experimentation and research on embryos or “leftover” embryos. In his letter to the legislative members, Chairman Long, acknowledges the hope that stem cell research brings to New Yorkers, but urges extreme caution in the bill language members will consider.

The text of the letter follows:

As an elected official, you are faced with many difficult decisions. Many are heart wrenching; closing hospitals, cutting funds to worthy causes...the inability to fix every problem must weigh on you and I am sure there are times when you would prefer to say yes to every person who asks for help, I know I would be tempted to, but we both know the reality is that you cannot.

This legislative session will be one of the most difficult you have been faced with and if you are in your first session you may even wonder why you chose to run for office. Newspaper reports tell us that the budget will be full of spending cuts to favorite projects and we both know these cuts are absolutely necessary.

Governor Spitzer has called for new spending in one area that gives us great concern. In his State of the State, Governor Spitzer proposed $2 billion for stem cell research an issue very much in the news. An issue that is heart wrenching. An issue that is not truly understood by most and an issue, we acknowledge, that is very difficult to say no to. However, unless there are safeguards in the Governor and Lieutenant Governor’s proposal, you must say no, even if you think you are justified in voting for the initiative because it will go before all the voters of the state for approval.

Stem Cell Research…three words that evoke even more emotion than abortion…simply because it affects every individual in the world. We have been led to believe that stem cell research, if given the funding and opportunity, will cure every illness, allow paraplegics to walk again and possibly allow us to live a hundred years or more without loss of memory or a gradual loss of the use of major organs. Stem cell research will create a utopia in the medical world where disease and broken bodies are vanquished to the netherworld forever.

Stem cell research is hope. And, we agree that there is a tremendous amount of hope in the right stem cell research. We must pursue the research that gives every individual a reason to hope…where there is promise of change…adult stem cell research, umbilical cord blood, amniotic fluid and even baby teeth have shown the potential to cure some of the most dreaded medical problems.

Stem cell research can make a difference in our futures but we must be bound by the ethical concerns unrestrained stem cell research brings.

Any proposal you place before the voters must prohibit human cloning for research, embryonic stem cell research and research on “leftover or to be discarded” embryos in New York State. It is never ethical to kill human life in the name of research. New York taxpayers should not be asked to fund research on embryos – to do so would violate ethical codes, the Hippocratic Oath, the Belmont Commission and the Nuremberg Code.

We believe there is a future in stem cell research, but it must be ethical stem cell research. It is not the responsibility of New York State to fund every means of future hope, yet if the funding of ethical research will assure that health care is improved and health care cost are substantially decreased, we could support such an initiative.

Every living being is willing to invest in the hope that cancer, HIV Aids, Parkinson disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, every illness or disability can be cured in our lifetime. Stem cell research lets us believe that this overpowering hope is real…that only good can come of stem cell research.

Good only comes if it is ethical. To fund ideas that cross ethical lines will ultimately empower those who have no moral compass and society will suffer as they promulgate their agenda.
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