The moral and ethical issue of embryonic stem cell research came to the forefront Thursday, making it an issue that may or may not affect voters at the polls on Nov. 7.
Republican radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh stated on air to 10 million plus listeners that 45-year-old actor Michael J. Fox was either "faking" and exaggerating his shaking tremors, symptoms of his diagnosis with Parkinson's disease, or purposefully didn't take his medication, in a TV ad supporting the expansion of stem cell research.
Although I have never listened to Limbaugh's radio program, I do know that his comment was as ignorant and dim-witted as Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic drunken rant last month.
After an influx of opposition to his comment by both Democrats and members of the medical profession, Limbaugh later apologized, but not before making comments about Fox exploiting his illness and collecting money for the ad.
To defend himself Fox spoke with Katie Couric on the CBS Evening News, explaining that he had no control over his shaking the day the ad was recorded. Taking the medication since his diagnosis in 1991, the medication has begun to lose its efficiency, and sometimes has a side effect called dyskinesia in which his body appears to be violently swaying.
But more importantly, the event sparked renewed interest among the voting population on the issue of stem cell research. Embryonic stem cell research is the idea that the cells from embryos, the precursors of a fetus's organs, can be used to make any type of cell in the adult human body, which has the potential to cure a number of incurable diseases.
"This is not politics, this is life," Fox told Couric in the interview. A simple statement to an increasingly heated issue, yes, but a reminder nonetheless.
Over 100 million people in America alone are affected by incurable illnesses such as Parkinson's or spinal cord injuries. President Bush and his fellow conservatives have succeeded at putting the issue at bay by providing limited federal funding for stem cell research; only a few lines or types of research are supported. Recently, he vetoed legislation to expand stem cell research.
The Bush administration, anti-abortion groups and the Roman Catholic Church believe the zygote (the cluster of cells formed with the fusion of sperm and egg) is a human being. They fear stem cell research could be taken too far, unnecessarily destroying potential human beings. Some have gone so far as to claim stem cell research encourages human cloning.
The ultra conservatives also point to the practice of those scientists who pay women to donate their eggs, using it as a part of their argument against stem cell research, saying it promotes immoral actions.
While I understand these conservative arguments may be warranted to a certain degree, I certainly don't think a baby should be created solely with the intention of using him or her for research purposes; I can't help but think that while the debate continues among politicians they are preventing potential life saving research.
Supporters of stem cell research don't want to be "baby-killers" they simply want to improve the lives of the living. Would you call the late Christopher Reeves a baby-killer for wanting to be cured of paralysis?
Leaving the issue to be funded by private sectors and taking government and politics out of it isn't the answer either. Privately funded money could never equal federal funding, and would only hurt the cause.
When it comes down to it, the issue of stem cell research is far from a bi-polar issue; there are hierarchies of stem cell research that individuals are willing to accept as ethical. But as long as it remains two sided, one absolute opinion pitted against the other, there will be no progress.
There needs to be compromise. Limiting stem cell research affects all of us, the future health of our country as well as abroad. There needs to be trust in the ethical observance of scientists - stem cell research isn't about the fear of the creation of Frankenstein-like monsters, but about the saving and improving of lives.
How can we turn our backs on that?
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
