Dear Mr. Bush

President George W. Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC

Subject: Stem Cell Research


Dear President Bush,

You will have a significant domestic issue of law placed in front of you soon. In the face of the Middle East, North Korea, and Iraq issues, the domestic front may seem of lower priority. However, you have an opportunity to make a positive step in the midst of uncertainty over world events. As a voting Republican for many decades, I see this issue as an important one for our families and for defining the politics of the future.

You may see legislation passed shortly on the difficult issue of embryonic stem cell research. There are three reasons I think you should immediately send a message to the country that you will NOT veto a bill which expands research if and when passed, and support its passing.

First, the value of stem cell research has been dramatically played out for my family in the last year. One of my four children, Drew, died of lymphoma last month after a long and valiant fight. His medical team used the latest research and clinical trials, trying new drugs and techniques, but their skills were hampered by the tools available. Federal funding for stem cell research for lifesaving medicine and treatments is held back by concerns over its use, and thousands like my son die each year. Moving the process ahead will save and improve lives, as one in three Americans will have Alzheimer’s, cancer, juvenile diabetes, or other diseases which could be helped by stem cell treatments. No issue before you could touch more lives than this one, directly or through family and friends.

Second, the legacy of this issue will soon pass to someone, as medicine has overcome fears of abuse in the past, and managed those issues that arose. Early medicines and treatments and research all had years of religious and “personal freedom” debate in the past centuries, before we decided that the health of the people was the most important issue. Your legacy should not be the last president to fail to realize how important and eventual expanded stem cell research will be, and that its monitored expansion is required.

Third, as a person raised in a Southern Baptist family, I understand the importance of faith and the challenge of translating the guidance of the Bible into today’s technology issues. I look, like you, at this issue ethically as well as technically, but I see it like many facets of our life – weighing the ideal against the appropriate. Using medical waste to harvest embryo cells the size of a period on this page is not covered in the Bible, but the hundreds of cancer patients sharing the hall with my son had one common view, regardless of their religious backgrounds – if they died, use their bodies and their experiences to help other to never get this disease nor suffer through its treatment. My son’s life was prolonged and he was nearly cured, by the way, by a cord blood transplant from “adult” stem cells harvested after the healthy birth of a baby. Research produces results, and embryonic stem cells offer greater promise.

Future research can develop ways to save patients like my son. As a country, we rejoice in blood donors, organ transplants, and new treatments, and we learn to do them ethically, morally, and religiously “right”. We can do expanded stem cell research the same way.

Please think carefully on this issue, and use it as a positive move to show trust in our country's ability to lead and manage tough issues. I urge you to support eventual embryonic stem cell research rather than delay it. This is a tough issue, and changing your mind is acceptable once in a while.


Boxley Llewellyn
Parent

(Click here for the President's response - well, a recent speech - with which I disagree.)