Dear Editor:
After months of hard work, I’d like to thank the Assembly for passing A-2840 to legalize embryonic stem cell research in New Jersey. Assemblyman Neil Cohen and Senator Dick Codey worked tirelessly to see this bill through to passage. Closer to home, Assemblywoman Joan Quigley was an early co-sponsor of the bill, and Assemblyman Tony Impreveduto delivered a passionate speech on the Assembly floor just before the vote. And I appreciate the political courage shown by Assemblyman Rafael Fraguela for defying the party bosses and Religious Right and voting with his conscience and with the wishes of his constituents in favor of the bill.
Embryonic stem cell research holds much promise to find cures or treatments for afflictions like diabetes, cancer, sickle-cell anemia, Tay-Sachs disease, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, spinal cord paralysis, and many others. Such research is by no means a guaranteed cure-all, but the compassion and bravery shown by the 41 Assembly members last week is an important first step in allowing stem cell research to take place here in our nation’s pharmaceutical capital.
Many of you know that our grassroots, nonpartisan organization, NJ Right to Hope placed ads in the Hudson Reporter, Jersey Journal and Trenton Times and created a web site (www.njrighttohope.org) to educate the public and the politicians about the facts on embryonic stem cell research. We were up against entrenched special interests like the Religious Right, but compassion and common sense prevailed in the end. This bill has opened a new door of hope for the tens of thousands of New Jerseyans like myself who have been frustrated with medical science to find cures for their diseases.
We look forward to Governor McGreevey’s promised signature of this bill into law.
Paul J. Byrne
Founder, njrighttohope.org