Governor Baldacci's Speech on Stem Cell Research

Governor Baldacci's Speech on Stem Cell Research

Speeches - Thursday, October 5, 2006

Thank You and Good Evening.

It is great to be here with so many of Maine and New England's brightest minds. I look at this group and I see the potential for a new future of scientific discovery and hope.

For the past two days, I have been speaking on the importance of our State's involvement in the critical scientific and medical discoveries of our time. Yesterday, after a report by the Union of Concerned Scientists showed that our summer's would eventually become all too similar to Maryland's if we did nothing to address global warming, I spoke to group of environmentalists on the importance of state action to help hinder the effects of global warming.

Global warming is a process that stands to shake the very foundation of our way of life, our children's future and their children's future. And we must all work together and do our part, however big or small, to stem this tide. We've done a lot in Maine, but we need strong, decisive leadership from a White House that has been severely lacking on this national and international threat.

Unfortunately, this lack of leadership from the White House on science is far too common.

There is another issue where the White House has recklessly put politics before science, and it is the issue that I would like to speak to you about this evening.

Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure to join your Dr. Kenneth Ault, Dr. Don Wojchowski and his research group to announce that if I was elected to a second term as Governor I intend to increase state funding for biomedical and stem cell research dramatically in the next four years.

I pledged that I would seek to make the critical steps forward to attain our goal of funding research and development by $1 billion per year by 2012.

I had the great honor to have with me a brilliant and passionate advocate of disabled rights and research, our very own Travis Roy, with me for that announcement. And there's something that Travis told me that continues to stick with me as I press forward with this proposal.

With all this marvelous research that goes on, Travis said, with all these test tubes and petri dishes and molecules and cells, it's hard to understand what really is going on with the science of it all. But when you meet these researchers, researchers like yourselves, when you see that twinkle in their eye when they explain to you the potential cures their research could unlock, when they tell you that what they do with those test tubes and Petri dishes could one day make someone walk again, see again, hear again, feel again, and stay alive, you realize the unending importance of supporting this research.

I want to ensure that Maine continues to play a leading role in investing in these opportunities - to provide the foundation for growth for science, for our economy, and for our children's future.

Since I made that announcement at your very own Maine Medical Center Research Institute, a number of people immediately and impulsively opposed my proposal, saying, "we just can't afford it."

Not only do I respond by saying that Maine surely CAN afford it - but also that we MUST afford it.

We can't afford NOT to.

We can't afford NOT to be part of the future.

We can't afford NOT to make investments that will bring jobs and economic development and the new economy to Maine.

We can't afford not to promote the research that will create the cures our family and friends need.

So let me make my position clear.

I strongly support state funding for biomedical and stem cell research. And in the next four years, I pledge to increase state investment in the critical areas of biomed to allocate millions of dollars to promote and encourage researchers and hospitals to keep cutting-edge biomedical and stem cell research here in our State.

I was disappointed two months ago when President Bush vetoed a bill that would have corrected federal policy to allow federal dollars to go to embryonic stem cell research.

I was disappointed not only because I know how important stem cell research is for our future, not only because I know how critical federal support of this research is and will be, but I was also disappointed because the President's decision reflected yet again the tendency of far too many politicians putting politics before science.

Our students continue to rank significantly below the average for industrialized nations in science and mathematics. I have pledged to radically increase the rigor of our public schools to improve our efforts in these areas, but we must do more than simply change the way we teach our children.

We must also change the way we provide opportunities for our children.

We must invest in the industries that will provide the new opportunities in the cutting-edge sectors of our economy.

So when someone tells me "we can't afford to" to invest in our future, to invest in our children's future, once again I respond by simply saying:

We can't afford NOT to do so.

We can't wait to invest in biomedical and stem cell research.

If you continue your hard work, if we continue to take part in these cutting-edge developments, if we continue to provide you the researchers the tools, the resources and the support you need, we can ensure not only Maine's economic prosperity, but also offer crucial support to the promise that the thousands who may benefit from your research will never view their fight as in vain.

Thank You.

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