Contact Governor Schwarzenegger

SPINAL CORD INJURY LAW ASKS YOUR HELP CONTACTING GOVERNOR

by Don C. Reed

Dear Fellow Research Advocate:

Please help keep a small but important research program alive by writing a short (one sentence is all we need) letter to:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, State Capitol Building, Sacramento, CA 95814                    

ATTN: Legislative Affairs: request for Signature, AB 1931 (Torrico)

(The Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act renewal bill.)

All the letter needs to say is:

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger: please sign Assembly Bill 1931, the renewal bill of the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act of 1990. 

That is the action request. If you want to add more, wonderful.

Governor Schwarzenegger previously signed a renewal of that bill in 2005. It is due for renewal again. AB 1931, the renewal of “Roman’s Law”, has been approved by both houses with unanimous support: 32-0 in the Senate: 76-0 in the Assembly. 

The renewal bill contains no request for general funds. (Funds will be sought from foundations, the federal government, and other sources.)

This law paid for the first state-funded embryonic stem cell research in America, re-insulating damaged spinal nerves. Laboratory rats so badly paralyzed they could only drag themselves are scampering now; that study goes to human trials with Geron. The same research may help cure Spinal Muscular Atrophy, (SMA, a vicious condition which kills children, often before the age of two), Multiple Sclerosis (MS), and other disorders.

“Roman’s Law” has helped train new scientists with fellowship grants, and assisted veterans to develop new approaches, from a variation of the Petri dish to pioneering new methods of rehabilitation and repair. In addition to 175 published scientific papers, two patents pending which may advance the biomedical industry, and several major scientific breakthroughs, our research brought new money to California.

Although we ask no state funding this year, our previous expenditures have been extraordinarily effective: attracting additional matching grants from the National Institutes of Health and other sources. Our total funding of $14 million was more than matched by $60 million from out of state—new jobs and revenue for California.  

The program may be viewed at:   http://www.reeve.uci.edu/Research/RomanReed.aspx 

As Christopher Reeve always said, we will “go forward”—and we will prevail.