FROM: OMNIFAX TO:

JUN 18; 1989 1:17PM #@42 P.&2

To the President of the United States and Members of the United States Congress:

We, the undersigned, urge you to support the decision to permit fedcrally-funded
biomedical scientists to conduct research with human “pluripotent” stem cells. This
critical research can be advanced while simultancously protecting the moral sensibilities
of the American people.

Human pluripotent stem cells are not embryonic cells because they cannot
become a human being nor can they undergo embryological development. It is likely,
however, that further research will reveal how to induce these cells to form certain
specialized cell types that can be used for the treatment of human disease. A large body
of successful work with mouse pluripotent stem cells cncourages us to believe that as we
progress to studies with human stem cells we will learn how to induce these cells to
become bone marrow for treatment of cancer and other hematopoietic diseases, pancreatic
cells for alleviating diabetes, and neuronal cells for treating Parkinson's disease,
Alzheimer's and various forms of brain and spinal cord disorders. Treatments using these
stem cclls could be much more effective than existing therapies because they may be
engineered to be less susceptible to rejection.

There are serious negative consequences of not allowing federally funded
scientists to work with human pluripotent stem cells. The net effect will be to bar the
majority of the Nation's most prominent researchers who are supported by the National
Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation at universitics and non-profit
institutions throughout the country from engaging in this critical research. Excluding
these investigators will closc off scicntific opportunities to those most qualified to make
dramatic advances towards using stem cclls for the treatment of disease. Moreover, the
new scientific understanding that emerges would not flow into the public domain and
may be restricted to the commercial sector. Permitting peer-reviewed federal funds to be
used for this research, combined with public oversight of these activities, is our best
assurance that research will be of the highest quality and performed with the greatest
dignity and moral responsibility. We hope that the President and the Congress together
will make the informed and courageous decision to guarantee that those scientists who
are most prepared and qualified to conduct safe, ethical and invaluable stem cell research
be enabled to do so.

Stem cell research has enormous potential for the effective treatment of human
discase. There is, therefore, » moral imperative to pursue it. Those who seek to prevent
medical advances using stem cells must be held accountable to those who suffer from
horrible discase and their families, why such hope should be withheld.

Sincerely yours,