Paralyzed Former Police Officer Kris Gulden Testifies In Support of Therapeutic Cloning; Gulden Urges Congress to Allow Life-Saving Medical Research to Move Forward

1/29/2003

From: Julie Kimbrough, 212-585-3501, or Maggie Goldberg, 973-379-2690, both of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research

WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 -- Today, former Alexandria, Virginia, police officer Kris Gulden testifies on behalf of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research (CAMR) before the Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space, U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. Gulden, who was spinal cord injured in 1998 from a biking accident and is paralyzed from the chest down, will urge Senators on the committee to allow research using therapeutic cloning to move forward. Excerpts from Gulden's speech are highlighted below. A full copy of her testimony will be available at 2:30 p.m. EST at: http://www.camradvocacy.org/fastaction/news.asp(pound)CAMRTestimo ny.

"Along with CAMR, the National Academy of Sciences, 41 Nobel laureates, and the vast majority of the American public, I support a ban on human reproductive cloning. However, it is imperative that we protect important areas of medical research that offer hope to so many of our citizens. As a person living with paralysis caused by a spinal cord injury, I know how urgently a cure is needed. I do not expect a cure tomorrow, or even next year, but we may have before us our greatest chance to cure diseases like ALS, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, cancer, diabetes and even paralysis resulting from spinal cord injury. I do not intend to overstate the promise of the research, but how can you overstate the hope that it offers people like me?

"In my dreams, I still walk. I run, I play basketball and I wear the uniform of the Alexandria Police Department. When the sun rises each morning, it brings reality with it. I rise to the sight of a wheelchair, yet I rise with the hope that maybe this will be the morning I can move my legs.

"I understand that the word 'cloning' causes many people to imagine the worst possible abuses. But there is a critical difference between cloning to produce a baby -- reproductive cloning -- and therapeutic cloning techniques to create stem cells. While I am not a scientist, I am aware of the process of therapeutic cloning. It is unconscionable to me that the United States Congress would choose to prohibit research that could lead to cures and treatments for many devastating diseases and disabilities."

------ The Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research (CAMR), is comprised of nationally-recognized patient organizations, universities, scientific societies, foundations, and individuals with life-threatening illnesses and disorders, advocating for the advancement of breakthrough research and technologies in regenerative medicine -- including stem cell research and somatic cell nuclear transfer -- in order to cure disease and alleviate suffering. For more information on CAMR, visit the website: http://www.camradvocacy.org.