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July 16, 2004/Tamuz 27 5764, Vol. 56, No. 43
Hadassah pushes stem cell research
MATTHEW BERGER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
WASHINGTON - Hadassah members are trying to get their message on stem cell research to the White House - all at once.
Members of the women's Zionist group swamped White House phone lines July 13, petitioning President Bush to reverse his position on stem cell research.
Hadassah says expanding the use of stem cells in medical research could provide new treatments and cures for deadly diseases.
Bush allowed research using existing stem cell lines from 2001, but few of those lines are still viable today. Stem cells are extracted from embryos and can be manipulated to create various human blood and tissue cells. The lines are cell groups extracted from embryos, and are capable of reproducing themselves.
No further lines are available for use under the current administration's policy.
"What President Bush knew and what scientists knew in 2001 is a lot different from what we know now," said Marla Gilson, Ha-dassah's Washington re-presentative. "It's time to allow new lines to be formed and those lines to be formed with federal funding."
To make their voices heard, about 1,500 Hadassah members all tried to call the White House at the same time during their conference in Phoenix.
Hadassah President June Walker went first, calling the White House on a speaker-phone as members listened on. She began to make her case to a White House operator before being transferred to a comment line.
Using cell phones, the membership then began to call en masse. Many of them either received busy signals or could not complete their calls from the ballroom.
Hadassah sees itself as the premier supporter of stem cell research, fostered by the work of Hadassah hospitals in Israel, which have championed research in that area and which co-own several stem cell lines.
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