FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – March 16, 2009

Contact: Senator Tim Golden @ 404-656-7580 or tim.golden@senate.ga.gov

Contact: Senator Doug Stoner @ 404-463-2518 or doug.stoner@senate.ga.gov

Senate GOP chooses politics over lifesaving science

By Sen. Tim Golden & Sen. Doug Stoner

More than 5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. Another 1.5 million are Parkinson’s disease patients. Hundreds of thousands more are living with the results of spinal cord injury or disease, with that number growing by 30 newly injured people each day.

But their problems, and those of their loved ones, are not the concern of the Republican members of the Georgia State Senate – not a single one. With haste rarely seen at the State Capitol, Senate Republicans rushed last week to introduce and put their stamp of approval on legislation designed to ensure that medical research that could lead to effective treatments or even a cure for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, spinal injuries and many other diseases will not take place in the state of Georgia.

The legislation, SB 169, would outlaw embryonic stem cell research in our state. SB 169 passed the Senate in a strict party-line vote, despite testimony in opposition from the medical, scientific and academic communities.

Without a doubt, this legislation is a knee-jerk reaction to President Barack Obama’s lifting of the ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research a few days earlier. Also without a doubt, the proposal was aimed at appeasing a powerful special interest group whose support is considered vital to Republican electoral success.

The bill was opposed by the University System of Georgia and some of its leading researchers. While the research will thankfully go on in other states, this is the wrong message for Georgia to be sending to sufferers of these diseases and their families, who are holding out hope for effective treatments and potential cures.

Turning their backs on all Georgians who support the lifesaving possibilities offered by stem cell research, Senate Republicans sided with a vocal minority who curiously fail to consider curing deadly diseases as “pro-life.” Whether or not they will admit falling victim to political pressure in voting to criminalize stem cell research, they have unfortunately cast Georgia as a backward state on this important issue.

Charles Craig, president of Georgia Bio, a non-profit group that promotes Georgia’s life science industry, was quoted by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as saying this legislation “tells the rest of the world that Georgia is anti-technology” – not exactly a sales tool for recruiting bio-medical companies to our state.

If SB 169 actually becomes law, one of the most tragic ironies is that Georgia is one of the states possessing the brainpower and the opportunity to be on the cutting edge of this research into the treatment and ultimate eradication of these deadly diseases.

Instead, by unanimously choosing partisan politics over lifesaving science, Senate Republicans have taken the first step toward making Georgia a joke in the science and medical communities as well as with bio-medical companies who might be considering locating their businesses in Georgia.

But the Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and spinal injury patients, their families and others like them hoping for a cure from stem cell research aren’t laughing.

• Sen. Tim Golden (D-Valdosta) represents the 8th District and is Chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus.
• Sen. Doug Stoner (D-Smyrna) represents the 6th District and Vice Chairman of the Senate State Institutions & Property Committee.