Victims of Stem Cell Research Opposition

Re “Stem Cell Research on Course, Director Says,” May 16: These are the lost years for people who need a cure for something. As the parents of the 2003-04 American Diabetes Assn.’s national youth advocate, Emma Klatman, 12, we pine for the day the cure for diabetes is found. But these lost years could spell horrendous diabetes complications for our daughter and millions of others whose lives have been cut short by the current administration’s refusal to pursue promising research. According to 100 Nobel laureates and other serious intellectuals, and now Nancy Reagan, stem cell research must be pursued.

Eight times a day and sometimes more, and once or maybe twice each and every night, we poke our daughter’s soft fingers to find out if she needs insulin or a cookie for “lows.” Every time we test blood sugars, change an insulin pump site or administer yet another insulin dose, we remember that the National Institutes of Health’s research billions and the millions of American taxpayers who might need a cure for something are bound up in the tangle of politics and religion. We pray that the cure is found without restraint.

Carol Eisner

Christopher Klatman

Los Angeles