we believe that this is correct:

[Joan E Snyder <snyder201@xxxxxxxxx>]

i'd like to thank everyone for the overwhelming response to my
editorial. it must have pulled some emotional strings out there
somewhere. now i must thank my  support team which consisted of Dr. R.
Rajaraman, a retired professor specializing in cell and molecular
biology of cancer-living in Nova Scotia , Canada; Dr. Raymond Barglow,
Ph.D, who studies  and write about bioethics, and  lives in Berkeley
California and Dr. K. F. Etzold, Ph.D, who's degree is in physics. it
was with the help of these three men that i have come to see the flaws
in my  first piece. Dr. Rajaraman went on to work up his own 10 page
thesies on the subject and i didn't feel that in any way, my name
belonged on his masterpiece. i think that his work stands on it's own.
however, i have taken to mind the considerations put forward by Drs.
Barglow and Etzold, and we have come up with a shorter, more impassioned
plea for understanding...for finding a common ground amidst this
unsavory battle. So here, with a little help from my friends is our
final copy of my original piece:

Stem Cells and Cloning -- The Science behind the Rhetori


Out there on the political battlefield of stem celll research, sides
have been taken,
many round fired, and casualties sustained by both sides. So much smoke
fills the air that it's almost impossible to think straight. The cause
of the confusion is often language: words as powerful as flamethrowers
ignite fierce reactions from both sides.


I am Joan Snyder. Many of you know me as a wife and mom and a
parishioner at St. Edward Catholic Church in Chillicothe, Illinois.
Others know me as a 51 year old woman who has been diagnosed with
Parkinson's Disease for 13 years, who is an advocate and fundraiser on
behalf of people with this condition. And those who know me well have
seen for years now that I walk a moral tightrope regarding the
controversial ethical problems that have challenged not only people with
my disease, but also those with Alzheimer's (which killed my father),
juvenile diabetes, ALS, spinal chord injury, stroke, heart disease, and
other devastating conditions that could possibly be cured through stem
cell research, including so-called "therapeutic cloning."

I am hopeful that medical research will provide us with new remedies
whose approval will require neither that I compromise my Catholic
Pro-Life beliefs, nor that I turn my back on the many thousands of
fellow PWP's (people with Parkinson's). I have gotten to know a good
number of them, both in person and on the web -and as if looking into a
mirror, I've seen their slow, downward pantomime. And I've also learned
about some of the complexities of this research, and about the
confusions that cloud the essential scientific and ethical issues.

I'd like to begin by noting that there are some quite thoughtful,
anti-abortion Christians - including people like Nancy Reagan and
Senators Orrin Hatch and Strom Thurmond - who strongly support
therapeutic cloning research. Some Catholic Theologians, such as Thomas
Shannon, also support this research. Let's examine the issue, and see if
we can understand why.


Here are definitions of some of the scary words out there:

STEM CELLS --Undifferentiated, primitive cells with the ability to
reproduce themselves and to differentiate into specific kinds of cells.
If we - or, I should say, the scientists among us -- can understand
better how stem cells grow and specialize - then we can use them to
treat injuries and diseases. There are different types of stem cells and
different ways of generating and gathering them.

BIOMEDICAL CLONING -- Cloning is a quite general term in biology that
denotes the creation of multiple, identical copies of a cell. There are
many types of cloning, some of which are now commonplace in biomedicine.
Cloning has allowed scientists to develop powerful new drugs and to
produce insulin and useful bacteria in the lab. It is one among several
new genetic tools that allow researchers to track the origins of
biological weapons, identify criminals, and produce foods more
efficiently. Some of these scientific applications are rightly
controversial, but what I've discovered is that so-called "therapeutic
cloning," in particular, is entirely safe and ethical. But more about
that below.

REPRODUCTIVE CLONING - This is the use of cloning technology to create a
child. It aims to take cells from a person (or sheep, creating Dolly)
and use them to create a genetically identical organism. I find the
concept of human reproductive cloning abhorrent and immoral. I think
that this kind of research should be banned right away.

THERAPEUTIC CLONING (technically known as SOMATIC CELL NUCLEAR TRANSFER,
or SCNT) --This involves removing the nucleus of an unfertilized egg
cell, and replacing it with the nucleus of a "somatic cell" (for
example, an adult skin, heart, or nerve cell) and stimulating this cell
to divide. Once the cell begins dividing, stem cells can be extracted
within one week and used for research. The SCNT cell remains in a
laboratory on a Petri dish, and the process does NOT involve sperm at
all, does NOT use a fertilized egg, and does NOT produce an embryo to be
implanted in a woman's uterus.

The words "stem cell" sometimes evoke an explosive reaction in people on
both sides of the abortion issue. The fact is that stem cells are in our
own blood, brains, and other parts of our bodies. Scientists think that
with further research, these adult stem cells may help us cure disease
like Parkinson's, juvenile diabetes and many other diseases ... but no
one knows for sure. There is the research being conducted right here in
Peoria by Dr. Rick Weber who is an Associate Professor of
Immunopharmacology and Microbiology here at the University of Illinois
College of Medicine, who is working on stem cell research that uses a
patient's own white blood cells to help cure that patient.

There are also stem cells that can be harvested from umbilical cord
blood that is routinely discarded after a baby is born. Around the
nation, cord blood banks are being set up to help doctors and families
donate their umbilical cord for research.

We would all favor this humane stem cell research, if we understand it.
The problem lies in the very mention of the words "stem cells." People
tend to forget that there are many kinds of stem cells that scientists
work with. "Embryonic stem cells" are the flashpoint that ignites both
sides of the abortion issue. Sometimes these are harvested from
"leftover" embryos that are created by a couple using in-vitro
fertilization. These embryos are routinely destroyed by clinics and
hospitals each day. Should they be discarded in this way? It is at this
point that clouds of uncertainty obscure our vision and raise serious
questions:

Which is more pro-life: to destroy these embryos, which will never
become children because they are not transplanted into a woman's womb?
Or to give these embryos value by using them to advance life-saving
research? I have to admit that I don't how to handle this ethical hot
potato. But I can tell you that over the years, watching this disease
take my life and the lives of my friends away little by little,
sometimes makes me deeply question my own beliefs.
So, this brings us back to the issue of cloning. The key to
understanding the issue lies in the distinction between reproductive
cloning -- which should be banned immediately -- and life-saving,
therapeutic cloning. Therapeutic cloning is entirely moral, in agreement
with the fundamental values of all of the major religions, and offers
great promise for curing terrible, fatal diseases that affect young and
old people alike. Therapeutic cloning will save lives; it cannot create
them.

I hope that I have helped to clear up some of the misconceptions about
cloning, and to find common ground where pro-life and the pro-choice
people can come together in a united effort to heal the devastation and
suffering of so many.

                                     Submitted by Joan Blessington
Snyder  with the aid and
assistance of Dr. Raymond Barglow, Ph.D and Dr. KF Etzold, Ph.D



--

--
Joan E. Blessington Snyder       50/11

<snyder201@xxxxxxxxx>
"Hang tough...........no way through it but to do it."
Chris-in-the-Morning   (Northern Exposure)


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