Testimonials
Stem cell research has the potential to provide better treatments and cures for many currently incurable medical conditions, including spinal cord injury, diabetes, Parkinson’s and many others. We are members of the Kansas Coalition for Lifesaving Cures because we believe patients should have access to future therapies and cures.”
- Michael Manganiello, Senior Vice President of Government Relations Christopher Reeve Foundation
At the University of Kansas Medical Center, we are very supportive of the efforts to use both mature and early stem cells in research to find new treatments and cures for disease. Both mature and early stem cells offer extraordinary potential for cures. It may be that one type of stem cell is the cure for one disease, while another is the treatment required for a different disease, much as one drug isn’t the therapy for all diseases. We also recognize that mature and early stem cells are not replacements for one another. Consequently, we believe that pursuing both avenues provides the best hope for achieving dramatic progress in discovering new cures.”
- Barbara Atkinson, M.D., Executive Vice Chancellor, University of Kansas Medical Center Executive Dean, School of Medicine
This important research could lead to the development of treatments or cures for numerous age-related diseases and disabilities including Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, spinal cord injuries, heart disease, ALS, and many other devastating conditions. All Americans, including the aging, want the best therapies for life-threatening, disabling and chronic conditions.”
- Dan Perry, Executive Director, Alliance for Aging Research
Because of their flexibility, embryonic stem cells hold more promise to ameliorate presently incurable diseases than any other approach.”
- Dr. Steven Teitelbaum, Professor of Pathology and Immunology Washington University in St. Louis, Wichita Eagle, October 19, 2005
It is our responsibility to do everything possible to protect the quality of life of the present and future generations. A critical factor will be what we do with human embryonic stem cells. These cells have the potential to cure diseases and conditions ranging from Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis to diabetes and heart disease, Alzheimer’s, Lou Gehrig’s disease, even spinal-cord injuries like my own.”
- Christopher Reeve, Late Actor and Patient Advocate, Time Magazine, May 1, 2000
Neuroscientists agree that there is great potential, although no guarantees, for breakthroughs in therapies for diseases such as ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injury, and stroke, through embryonic stem cell research. While adult stem cell research is believed to hold less promise, the AAN and ANA believe both embryonic and adult stem cell research should be pursued rigorously and under close scrutiny.”
- American Academy of Neurology and American Neurological Association
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)...recognizes that stem cell research encompasses stem cells of many types, and stresses that each facet of stem cell research is in fact complementary - not duplicative. Research on adult stem cells (tissue-specific stem cells found within adults) may uncover the body’s innate maintenance and repair mechanisms. This area of research includes important classes of blood-forming stem cells, such as the hematopoietic stem cells resident within bone marrow or the umbilical cord blood stem cells harvested at childbirth, as well as emerging studies of cancer stem cells. Embryonic stem cells (unspecialized stem cells found within very early stage embryos called blastocysts) have the ability to transform into the cells of every major organ system. If this characteristic, called pluripotency, can be controlled, then medical researchers could determine the signals directing the development of human tissues, including cancers.”
- The American Association for Cancer Research Position Statement
