# 362 Wednesday, August 29, 2007 - SOME VERY BAD POEMS ABOUT STEM CELL RESEARCH
SOME VERY BAD POEMS ABOUT STEM CELL RESEARCH (Inflicted on the audience at a Research for Cure fundraiser, August 26, 2007) by Don C. Reed, www.stemcellbattles.com WHO NEEDS STEM CELL RESEARCH? Is it you? Or is it me? A member of our family? One hundred million citizens, in America alone; Enduring chronic illness or injury, with courage, or a groan. Think of someone you love, incurably ill, They will not get better, not with drug, shot, or pill. They have cancer, Alzheimer?s, spinal cord injury: A chronic disease, or a disability. And every one of those people, man or woman, boy or girl, Has a family affected?which means everybody, all across the world. What emotional, physical, financial burdens we share; Chronic disease is three-quarters of the cost of everyone?s health care. WHAT DO WE WANT FROM STEM CELL RESEARCH? We want an end to arthritis with its grinding pain, An end to stomach ulcers and their stabbing shoots of flame. Open the living tomb of Parkinson?s, no more blindness from diabetes, Free the frozen limbs of paralysis, stop dozens more disabilities. And while we?re at it, why don?t we Regenerate the economy? READY FOR STEM CELL CHANGE We have tried every known medicine, we are at the end of our rope; We are tired of doctors telling us, we must abandon hope. Standard practice cannot cure us, despite the best of will. So let us look to the science lab, and the tiniest of cells. Stem cells, invisible, amazing, and real. A medical advance, our bodies to heal. To solve the problem, go to the stem, the very root, If we were computers, we would have to reboot. ADULT VERSUS EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS Adult and embryonic stem cells, each has its own potential, Each is useful, each is good, both are sometimes controversial. There are some who say adult stem cells can build a body bionic; And they would STOP the other stem cell research, denying embryonic. Adult stem cells are found in our bodies, after most of our growing is done. But they are not built to multiply fast, and their purpose is really just one. They are miniature repair kits, and we all are glad they exist. But to call them the equal of embryonic-- is an illusion we must resist. Adult stem cells are useful indeed, like a bandage for minor injury. But one does not apply a band-aid, when it is time for major surgery. Adult stem cells regenerate cells, but slowwwwwly, like a bald man growing hair; But embryonic cells grew every portion of us, not just isolated cells here and there. Adult stem cells, like gift certificates, are specialized, and sometimes rare. Embryonic stem cells become anything, like cash money, spendable everywhere. Adult stem cells help to heal little cuts, like zippers, making scars. But the power of adult next to embryonic? Like a flashlight next to a star. ARE WE CLONING BABIES? Before every medical advance, There is always the darkness of ignorance. Misunderstandings delay us, bog us down in endless strife; And the biggest fear is this; that stem cell research means creating a life. This is false, false, false-- there are no cloned babies. Neither kids nor pregnancies involved, on this there are no maybies. If somebody crooked tried to clone a child, that crook belongs in jail; Do not pass go, expect massive fines, no one should post their bail. Cloning is for gardeners, who cut ?slips? and plant them, every day. But we don?t need it for babies, we can make them the old fashioned way. Reproductive cloning (like Dolly the sheep) must never be allowed. But SCNT, which is stem cells for cure?of that we can all be proud. Cells, cells, nothing but cells, that is what we are here for; Cells to bring hope to those we love, the suffering ones we care for. To take a cell from a diseased body, and fix it, make it right; And use it to heal its owner? That is a step forward, into the light. ON THE DIFFICULTY OF RHYMING SCNT There is a technique called SCNT, which everyone will someday understand; It will be funded by Congress, praised by Presidents, and every leader in the land. It has, in fact, already been praised by former Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter; And as for the current occupant of the White House? He hasn?t-- but he ought?a! Like DNA research, also once opposed, (until it made insulin), SCNT is a wonderful technique, for the life-saving effort we are in. To take a cell out of a person, and merge it with an emptied egg, May help us defeat diabetes, may prevent the amputation of a leg. Instead of transplanting a kidney, why not re-grow one?s own? Or study a disease, in Petri dish cells? About that no one should moan. To make disease-specific stem cell lines, (and lower drug testing costs), And build non-rejectable replacement organs? SCNT must not be lost. Should we grow new skin for a burn victim, restore motion to the paralyzed? End ALS, blindness, deafness, cancer, and Aids?would that not be wise? Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer, it is hard to find rhymes for that? But SCNT possibilities-- in potential it is so fat! ON STEM CELL ADVOCATES, AND BAD POETRY We are all in this together; each of us will play a part, And our children will remember how we helped a great science to start. And now it is time, thank goodness, for these awful poems to end. Thank you for listening so patiently, and for helping our scientists to win. Don Reed www.stemcellbattles.com
