Wise Young
10-22-2007, 12:20 PM
Many New Jerseyians do not realize that one of the most important elections in their lifetime is coming up this November 6, 2007. At the election, there is a referendum for New Jersey voters to agree to a $450 million bond to fund stem cell research in the state. Many people, even at CareCure, think that stem cell research is a done deal in the state. Although 73% of voters in the state supports embryonic stem cell research, recent polls suggest that less than 50% of voters support the bond if it increases their taxes.
I am quite concerned that there is complacency amongst the groups that support the stem cell research bond such that they are not pushing their voters to go vote. Opponents of stem cell research have a strong history of being able turn out large numbers of voters. The Catholic Church and Evangelical Churches have also been putting out a number of misleading information about the bond.
The research kills babies. This is false. The research will not cause the death of any baby or embryo. In fact, the language of the bond bill prohibits the use of any of the funds to clone an embryo for their stem cells. Please note that this would not prevent the cloning of blastocysts (which are before implantation and pre-embyronic) for stem cells. There will not be any implantation of blastocysts into the uterus of a woman and creation of embryos or babies. Most of the so-called embryonic stem cell research will be on already created cell lines although we hope that some research will be done to create New Jersey embryonic stem cell lines that have never had any contact with animal feeder cells or serum and therefore will be ready for use in people.
New Jersey cannot afford this bond. This is false. In fact, the opposite is true. New Jersey cannot afford to miss this opportunity. To borrow $45 million per year at 5% interest for ten years would cost the individual New Jersey resident 26 cents in the first year, 52 cents in the second year, increasing gradually to $2.57 per year in 2017. By this time, several studies have shown that New Jersey will have gained enough return from the investment and the growth in the economy to pay off the bond.
The truth is the New Jersey cannot afford to lose this opportunity for the following reasons:
New Jersey has already lost two years in getting its research program started while California has implemented its $3 billion program and New York just passed a bill to fund $650 million of stem cell research. New Jersey will lose biotech and pharmaceutical companies who will move their laboratories and headquarters to these states. There is general agreement that cellular therapeutics is the future of the therapeutics in the world. New Jersey cannot afford to be shut out of this new industry.
Stem cell laboratories and scientists will leave the state. If New Jersey does not pass this referendum, I believe that most stem cell scientist in industry and academia here in New Jersey will leave the state. At the present, there are probably about 40 laboratories in academic and perhaps
60 laboratories in industry that are doing stem cell research. Each laboratory brings about $1 million or more to the economy of New Jersey. If 100 laboratories were to move out of the state, this is a loss of $100 million to the economy.
Stem cell laboratories will not come to the state. Federal funding of human stem cell research is currently less than 1% of the federal biomedical research budget. If New Jersey does not pass this bill to fund the research, stem cell scientists will not come to New Jersey. Stem cell scientists from many states are now moving to California and New York. It is critical that New Jersey capture some of the best stem cell scientists to come to New Jersey. The bond alone will fund about 50 laboratories and, with matching funds from industry, this should result in over 100 laboratories coming to the state, adding over $100 million per year to the economy.
People in New Jersey deserve to have stem cell therapies, too. The implementation of the stem cell research bond in New Jersey will encourage and fund stem cell clinical trials for conditions such as spinal cord injury, head injury, diabetes, Parkinson's disease, leukemia, Alzheimer's disease, and many other conditions. Rather than having to go to New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and San Francisco for cutting edge therapies, New Jersey residents can get the treatments in their own state.
All the research in the bond will be funded only after rigorous peer review by out-of-state experts who will choose the best and most rigorous science to fund. There is no pork barrelling here. All research related to human embryonic stem cell research will be reviewed by an ethical committee headed by Harold Shapiro, former President of Princeton. In addition, an embryonic stem cell research committee at Rutgers/UMDNJ will be review all the stem cell programs to ensure that they meet the highest ethical standards.
So, how much does all of this cost? Even if we don't count any of the economic benefits of the research for the state of New Jersey, the cost is about 25 cents in the first year per person in New Jersey and it increases gradually to $2.50 per year in 2017. Attached is a short spread sheet calculation that estimats the cost of the interest for the bond. This is a tiny investment compared to the huge returns that this investment would bring to the state. If we don't pass this referendum today, it will never happen and New Jersey will lose this chance.
Please, if you are from New Jersey, write to all your family and friends and tell them to to and vote YES on the Stem Cell Research Bond of New Jersey on November 6. This is well worth getting up earlier in the morning and casting your vote. If we lose this opportunity due to complaicency, it will be our fault. Thank you very much.
Wise Young, Ph.D., M.D.
Richard H. Shindell Chair in Neuroscience
W. M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience
Dept. of Cell Biology & Neuroscience
Rutgers, State University of New Jersey
Piscataway, New Jersey 08540-8087
I am quite concerned that there is complacency amongst the groups that support the stem cell research bond such that they are not pushing their voters to go vote. Opponents of stem cell research have a strong history of being able turn out large numbers of voters. The Catholic Church and Evangelical Churches have also been putting out a number of misleading information about the bond.
The research kills babies. This is false. The research will not cause the death of any baby or embryo. In fact, the language of the bond bill prohibits the use of any of the funds to clone an embryo for their stem cells. Please note that this would not prevent the cloning of blastocysts (which are before implantation and pre-embyronic) for stem cells. There will not be any implantation of blastocysts into the uterus of a woman and creation of embryos or babies. Most of the so-called embryonic stem cell research will be on already created cell lines although we hope that some research will be done to create New Jersey embryonic stem cell lines that have never had any contact with animal feeder cells or serum and therefore will be ready for use in people.
New Jersey cannot afford this bond. This is false. In fact, the opposite is true. New Jersey cannot afford to miss this opportunity. To borrow $45 million per year at 5% interest for ten years would cost the individual New Jersey resident 26 cents in the first year, 52 cents in the second year, increasing gradually to $2.57 per year in 2017. By this time, several studies have shown that New Jersey will have gained enough return from the investment and the growth in the economy to pay off the bond.
The truth is the New Jersey cannot afford to lose this opportunity for the following reasons:
New Jersey has already lost two years in getting its research program started while California has implemented its $3 billion program and New York just passed a bill to fund $650 million of stem cell research. New Jersey will lose biotech and pharmaceutical companies who will move their laboratories and headquarters to these states. There is general agreement that cellular therapeutics is the future of the therapeutics in the world. New Jersey cannot afford to be shut out of this new industry.
Stem cell laboratories and scientists will leave the state. If New Jersey does not pass this referendum, I believe that most stem cell scientist in industry and academia here in New Jersey will leave the state. At the present, there are probably about 40 laboratories in academic and perhaps
60 laboratories in industry that are doing stem cell research. Each laboratory brings about $1 million or more to the economy of New Jersey. If 100 laboratories were to move out of the state, this is a loss of $100 million to the economy.
Stem cell laboratories will not come to the state. Federal funding of human stem cell research is currently less than 1% of the federal biomedical research budget. If New Jersey does not pass this bill to fund the research, stem cell scientists will not come to New Jersey. Stem cell scientists from many states are now moving to California and New York. It is critical that New Jersey capture some of the best stem cell scientists to come to New Jersey. The bond alone will fund about 50 laboratories and, with matching funds from industry, this should result in over 100 laboratories coming to the state, adding over $100 million per year to the economy.
People in New Jersey deserve to have stem cell therapies, too. The implementation of the stem cell research bond in New Jersey will encourage and fund stem cell clinical trials for conditions such as spinal cord injury, head injury, diabetes, Parkinson's disease, leukemia, Alzheimer's disease, and many other conditions. Rather than having to go to New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and San Francisco for cutting edge therapies, New Jersey residents can get the treatments in their own state.
All the research in the bond will be funded only after rigorous peer review by out-of-state experts who will choose the best and most rigorous science to fund. There is no pork barrelling here. All research related to human embryonic stem cell research will be reviewed by an ethical committee headed by Harold Shapiro, former President of Princeton. In addition, an embryonic stem cell research committee at Rutgers/UMDNJ will be review all the stem cell programs to ensure that they meet the highest ethical standards.
So, how much does all of this cost? Even if we don't count any of the economic benefits of the research for the state of New Jersey, the cost is about 25 cents in the first year per person in New Jersey and it increases gradually to $2.50 per year in 2017. Attached is a short spread sheet calculation that estimats the cost of the interest for the bond. This is a tiny investment compared to the huge returns that this investment would bring to the state. If we don't pass this referendum today, it will never happen and New Jersey will lose this chance.
Please, if you are from New Jersey, write to all your family and friends and tell them to to and vote YES on the Stem Cell Research Bond of New Jersey on November 6. This is well worth getting up earlier in the morning and casting your vote. If we lose this opportunity due to complaicency, it will be our fault. Thank you very much.
Wise Young, Ph.D., M.D.
Richard H. Shindell Chair in Neuroscience
W. M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience
Dept. of Cell Biology & Neuroscience
Rutgers, State University of New Jersey
Piscataway, New Jersey 08540-8087