Reconciling anti-stem cell with pro-cure

i strongly oppose embryotic stem cell research, but i have a daughter with type 1. not only do i object on religious grounds, i don’t think embryotic stem cell research is essential for finding a cure for diabetes and i believe money spent pursuing that route is wasted. my problem is i think a lot of good research with potential is being done and i’d like to financially support jdrf and the like, but there is no way for me to control how my money is spent. is there a way to reconcile my principles and support research for a cure?

You could give directly to research facilities that are doing research you agree with. For instance, the Diabetes Research Institute or Denise Faustman at Mass General. when you read articles in JDRF or go their website, find out who the lead researcher is and ask how you can support their funding. That way, you know exactly who is getting your money.

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I would also suggest supporting research that will prevent an auto-immune reaction from occurring in the first place. While there are a number of ideas and research efforts focusing on stem cell regeneration/transplants, we also need to address why they get attacked in the first place. The JDRF is a good place to start.

I would like to suggest funding the Diabetes Research Institute in Miami, Florida. Although the DRI does do work on stem cell research, there are many paths to a cure at the Diabetes Research Institute. When donating money, you can designate on the top of your check where you want your money to be used. If you specify that your donation not be applied to stem cell research, it won’t be.

I would support a cure in any way, shape, or form. We shouldn’t let anymore children or adults die from a disease that could have a cure in our lifetime----and if stem cell research can prevent that, then you might reconsider what you’re opposed to.

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Based on the fact that diabetes is a genetic disorder. I do not see how a true cure can come about without some sort of genetic research. Right now ... that is in the form of stem cell research.

Perhaps in the future we will find a way to get them from some other place, but for now, the embryonic stem cells are the only ones that can be coaxed into some many different forms.

Jack

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Hi anon,

I do not agree with embryotic stem cell research either. My son also has D. He was diagnosed at 3 and is 5 now.

I support The Iacocca Foundation (which in turn supports Dr. Faustman). They have a policy that states they will not give any money to fund stem cell research. That way you know your money isn’t going to something you don’t like.

I just did a walk a couple of weeks ago and all the money went to The Iacocca Foundation. The money went to 2 different research projects, Dr. Faustman’s project and a project being done at the University of Virginia by Dr. Jerry Nadler.

If you click this link it will tell you more about the research The Iacocca Foundation supports.

They don’t do numerous walks like JDRF. That’s why I started a walk on my own. Or you could just do a letter writting campaign to solicite donations.

Here’s the direct link to what the foundation will and will not give money to.

saw a video about stem cell’s was very good . if people don’t try for a cure than it won’t happen.

well said Rachel . did not know how bad db is till I was dx. and researched it.

Fertilized eggs often spontaneously fall out of women, so if we really regarded these things as human beings with human rights, preventing these millions of human deaths every year would be the greatest problem facing medicine today, yet we don’t spend a penny to stop it. The reason we don’t is that we don’t really believe these things are human. After all, we don’t mourn them when they drown in the toilet, we don’t name them, we don’t hold funerals for them. It seems we only decide they are human when we can use that notion to frustrate women’s life plans or block medical research necessary to save sick people, whom society never much liked anyway.

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A little over the top perhaps?