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Commentary: Georgia should support, not impede, medical research
By Senator Robert Brown and Senator Tim Golden
July 25, 2006 -- Atlanta, GA -- The “no” votes by both of Georgia’s U.S. senators on legislation that would have expanded research into the life-saving benefits of stem cell research this week were very disappointing. Even more tragic was President Bush’s veto of the bill, an action that will delay a chance to help an estimated 110 million Americans who suffer from diseases like diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and various forms of cancer.
Turning his back on a vast majority of Americans – including leading conservatives like former first lady Nancy Reagan, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) – who support more federal funding for stem cell research, the president sided with a vocal minority who curiously fail to consider curing deadly diseases as “pro-life.”
Whether Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson fell victim to political pressure in staking their positions in opposition to the expansion to stem cell research or not, they have unfortunately cast Georgia as a backwards state on this issue.
It was probably just a coincidence that on the same day our senators put politics over life-saving science, the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis announced it would locate its flu vaccine factory in Raleigh, N.C., instead of Athens, Georgia. This plant will provide 350 jobs paying an average of $50,000 a year when it opens, with plans for expansion to a $1 billion investment and 1,200 employees.
But in the future if Georgia wants to be the national center for biotechnology that it can be, our elected officials are going to have to start acting like it. Despite this week’s setback in Washington, D.C., the promises of stem cell research will one day become a reality – even if it has to be after the President leaves office. Our state has the brainpower and the opportunity to be on the cutting edge of this research.
That’s why, during the last legislative session, we co-sponsored Senate Bill 537, the “Search for the Cure Act,” sponsored by Senator David Adelman (D-Decatur). Under this proposal, a tissue bank would be created at a Georgia university, where donated placental tissue, umbilical cord blood and unused embryos from fertility treatments would be stored. Donors would have to provide written consent, and medical researchers in Georgia would apply to use tissue and blood from the bank for research in regenerative medicine and life sciences, including stem cell research.
The bill also strictly prohibits human reproductive cloning and imposes strict criminal sanctions for those who break the law. Its ethical provisions would also prohibit institutions that conduct research from retaliating against employees whose religious beliefs conflict with such research.
When senators in the majority introduced a competing bill that drew strong opposition from leading scientists, we fought hard in the Senate Science & Technology Committee to make the competing Senate Bill 596 a more reasonable proposal before it reached the Senate floor.
We’ve now taken a first step. In 2007, it will be time for Georgia lawmakers to help our state become the national leader in biomedical research, rather than a laughingstock in the science and medical communities.
Sen. Robert Brown is the Democratic Leader in the Georgia State Senate and represents the 26th District. Sen. Tim Golden is Chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus, and represents the 8th District. Golden is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Science & Technology Committee
Sen. Robert Brown is the Democratic Leader in the Georgia State Senate and represents the 26th District. Sen. Tim Golden is Chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus, and represents the 8th District. Golden is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Science & Technology Committee |
