Adult Stem Cell Awareness
Monica mentioned to me yesterday that Bill Schneeberger would be on EWTN radio today with Teresa Tomeo (Shelray’s travel guide to the Holy Land). Well I missed it since she broadcasts at 8am central. Did anyone catch it?
Well who is Bill Schneeberger you might ask. He is the owner of BOGO wines, a winery that contributes from its proceeds to great Catholic, pro-life organizations:
Monica shared with me that he has developed a plan modeled after that of Susan Komen of the “pink ribbon” campaign. The focus of his plan is to generate awareness, interest, and funding for ethical stem cell research (adult, cord, autologous, etc). Monica writes:
He studied the Susan Komen plan to find out what made it so successful. You can barely buy a bag of chips now without inadvertently funding the the Komen foundation — it’s crazy - they are wildly successful at doing what they have done. I was at Target tonight w/ my husband and noticed they’ve got a whole “October is breast cancer awareness” promotion thing with all these pink products you can buy to help the Komen foundation. If Schneeberger’s initiative is only a fraction as successful as the Komen one, it will still do so much to help advance ethical research.
Schneeberger has obtained a patent trademark/logo for Adult Stem Cell Awareness. Yes, it is meant for car magnets - among other things, but please don’t think this is just about silly car magnets and even “Adult Stem Cell Awareness Month” . . . it’s about finding a way to get “adult stem cell awareness” into the world of the regular guy — and as small as it sounds, things like car magnets and awareness campaigns are incredibly effective. Well, just ask the Susan Komen foundation, right?
Now, it’s true, I’m hoping therapies such as autologous tissue engineering will help my child survive her heart defects, God-willing. But there are millions of people out here who stand to benefit from this kind of awareness campaign — not only because it is ethically sound, but because adult stem cells are really producing life-saving results. One of the orgs that this kind of campaign will help, certainly, is Dr. Moy’s John Paul II Stem Cell Research Institute. This is the kind of organization that we Catholics need to stand behind.
So, the goal is to try to get the info about the awareness campaign initiative in the hands of people who can really lobby for it. Politicians - for sure. I’ve already written my congressman. Unfortunately, it’s pretty slim pickings up here in terms of “pro-life” legislators. But can we be creative about who can help? Any ideas? What about professional societies who can lobby - how about Catholic hospitals? Catholic Universities?
In conjunction with Bill’s efforts, Monica has set up a blog which focuses on promoting Adult Stem Cell awareness. Go check out the blog, add it to your daily blog visits, and if you can get involved in some way, please contact Monica.
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The timing of your post is actually quite appropriate, since the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded today to three researchers for their pioneering work in embryonic stem cell research and its impact on gene therapy. Perhaps in a few decades, the prize will be awarded to researchers who can really impact the field due to work with adult stem cells.
Comment by bink — October 9, 2007 @ 3:23 pm
David - thank you so much! This is a work in progress. If anyone is interested in helping us blog daily about adult stem cell news, please do! The scope is narrow, there’s lots to cover and lots to be done.
Comment by monica — October 10, 2007 @ 10:02 am