By Tom Dodge, KERA 90.1 commentator
Dallas, TX –
Religious opposition to federal funding for stem cell research is reminiscent of many such battles against medical science thorough the ages. In Athens during the 5th century B.C., scientists like Democedes, Alcmaeon, Hippocrates, and others, made advancements in medical knowledge they learned from the Egyptians. This advancement came after stubborn opposition from religious factions believing that disease was punishment for wickedness and should be allayed only by prayers to Apollo.
Consequently, in their writings, these physicians were obliged to assuage the multitudes by recommending prayer in a kind of token way before explaining the nature of disease and its cures. The Hippocratic Oath, for example, begins with an oath to Apollo. Greek medicine would have advanced further than it did, writes historian Will Durant in The Life of Greece, "had it not been harassed by religion and discouraged by philosophy."
Those of us hoping for stem cell treatment feel, frankly, "harassed by religion and discouraged by philosophy." In the 1990's, when our son Lyndon first heard of stem cell research, he held out hope that he might walk again or regain some function that was lost in an accident in 1982. Then the election of 2000 sent him into a depression from which he has not fully recovered. Our family, naturally, still holds onto hope that things will improve for him.
There are a half-million others like him, paralyzed from spinal cord injuries. Eight-hundred thousand Americans are paralyzed with strokes each year, some of them under fifty. Our niece, 16 years old, has diabetes, along with the 18 million others. This number is expected to rise by 27 percent over the next decade, experts say. Four million victims of Alzheimer's disease might have hope, though it is too late for my mother, two uncles, and great-grandmother. Also ALS, heart disease, and even cancer, are among the many diseases scientists believe can be relieved when stem cell treatment becomes available.
Those who know history see this struggle as one like so many others over the centuries. Many must suffer and die before the majority will accept revolutionary new treatments. There are myriad examples, but the one I would like to cite occurred during a smallpox epidemic in Montreal in 1885.
Protestants favored inoculations. Catholics opposed them. Abbe Filiatrault, priest of St. James Church, was quoted as saying, "it is to punish us for our pride that God has sent us smallpox."
Meantime, Catholics died out, while among the Protestants, the disease died out.
President Bush says repeatedly that it is wrong to force people to pay taxes to support something they don't believe in. Does he think that the millions who oppose the Iraq War like knowing their taxes go to wage it? And, by the way, his other litany is that he doesn't believe in the taking of life in order to save life. But haven't presidents justified war in this way since the beginning? The big difference is that there is no debate about whether a warrior is a real person or not.
In any case, this Montreal story set me to thinking. In this reverie I envisioned a true democracy in which all citizens could specify on their tax returns where they would and would not like their taxes to be spent. Consequently, those opposing the research could withhold their money and, of course, be ineligible for stem cell treatment when their turn comes to need it.
Tom Dodge won a Katy Award for The San Antonio Express-News in 2003 for his coverage of the stem cell debate. If you have opinions or rebuttals about this commentary, call (214) 740-9338 or email us.