Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/1161
21 WWW.HPLusmAGAzINe.COm moira A. Gunn, Ph.D. hosts "BioTech Nation" on NPr Talk and NPr Live. she's the author of "Welcome to BioTech Nation: my unexpected Odyssey into the Land of small molecules, Lean Genes, and Big Ideas," cited by the Library Journal as one of the "Best science Books of 2007." she will be awarded an honorary doctorate in science in may, 2009 by Purdue university. Copyright 2009 moira A. Gunn march 9th, 2009, and President Barack Obama has just signed an executive Order, this one rescinding W's defi ant edict. I say "defi ant" intentionally — twice, Congress voted to overturn this executive Order, and twice, President Bush vetoed it. There was simply no talking to him about it. He believed what he believed, and that was all there was to it. But in the meantime, the sensibilities of the country have shifted. Congress has taken up the zeitgeist of the American people. Yes, some citizens will forever believe that using very early stage embryos for research — humans eggs fertilized outside the body in a scientifi c lab — is morally wrong, but the great swath of Americans do not. In fact, they're beginning to understand that DNA and genetics is hugely important. They gulp down season after season of CsI. They buy paternity kits for $29.99 at Walgreens. Pregnant women get tested for all kinds of genetic disorders, while women with breast cancer can immediately discover whether the drug Herceptin will work for them. everyone has begun to suspect that within their lifetimes, their DNA will tell them more about themselves than they ever imagined — their past, their present and their future. so, roger Pederson, still a professor at Cambridge, must know that right here in the united states, it's a brand new day. Just weeks after the inauguration, the FDA approved the fi rst-ever clinical trials enabling Geron Corporation to inject a stem cell therapeutic into newly-arriving patients with severe spinal cord injuries. For us, it's the realization of a dream described by the late actor Christopher reeve, but for roger Pederson, it's an undeniable indicator. He's got to know that a tsunami of drug applications are on their way to the FDA. He can Google the news and know that the House of representatives voted $3.5 billion for the National Institutes of Health into the economic stimulus package, and that the senate upped it to $10 billion. And now, President Obama has fi nally lifted the blockading executive Order. so roger Pederson has got to know that an avalanche of science is being proposed — and he's got to be thinking long and hard about his situation. The Brits have been very generous to him. They welcomed him with open arms. Can he cut and run? He's got to have studies mid-stream. And students. And colleagues. And funders. Yeah, just what do you do when the worm turns? roger is not the only one with a personal dilemma. Think of the people who have always been opposed to embryonic stem cell research. Do they believe so strongly that faced with a severe spinal cord injury, they would say, "No, I won't take this therapy"? Or will they, like most humans, seek whatever remedy they can muster? For others, it's a question of faith, and different religions have begun to register their positions. In December, the Vatican issued a paper concerning the Dignity of the Person (Dignitas Personae). In it, in vitro fertilization is ruled out. That's right. "All techniques of … artifi cial fertilization … which substitute for the conjugal act are to be excluded." It doesn't matter that it's a married couple using their own eggs and sperm. If the fertilized embryo is not created during the conjugal act, it's unacceptable. The paper doesn't answer the question of what to do about all those humans who, indeed, have already been created in the proverbial test tube, yet I can't help but feel for Louise Brown and how she herself might feel reading the Vatican paper. Who would ever want to read something that clearly states it is wrong for you to exist. Without a doubt, these are times of vertiginous change. We still have those in opposition to stem cell research, who believe fervently and have followed their moral compass. And there are those who are driven by a different moral imperative to develop these technologies for the good of humanity. Then there are many, many more in the middle, who are simply trying to get by and are worried about their next paycheck, not to mention the millions who have no health insurance. Few of these people can believe that stem cell research has anything to do with them. But the truth is – they would be wrong. The promise of genetic diagnostics and stem cell therapies is that we will be able to detect and fi ght disease and trauma, early, effectively, and on a vastly cheaper basis than ever before. everything tells me that we are at a fantastic turning point in history. The promise, the potential, the funding and the enormous, ready and willing effort of all our scientists – for once, it looks like it's all coming together. so, roger Pederson – please come home. Consider it an "all hands" meeting. Thank the Brits for their generosity, but frankly, we need you, and I know you wouldn't want to miss it. You see, the "gene genie" is out of the bottle. Do they believe so strongly that faced with a severe spinal cord injury, they would say, "no, I won't take this therapy"?