THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 9, 1996 TAG: 9608090022
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 50 lines
After my 15-year-old son's diagnosis of Type I (``juvenile'' or insulin-dependent) diabetes on Jan. 5, whenever the word appears anywhere in print it draws me in a compelling manner.
I therefore read, heart racing with hope, Marie Joyce's ``A research gamble'' (news, July 9) which recounted the high stakes involved in diabetes research - the big bucks, the politics, the glory and the fame for the researchers and their institutions and the virulent competition amongst them.
What I really wanted to hear about was more about this potential cure and how close we are to it.
Translation: How many more months, years does my son have to wake up each morning to the unpleasant, albeit life-saving reality of the insulin needle - he who was needle-phobic when this all started? How many more thousand of finger pricks to test his blood-sugar levels? How many more headaches, stomachaches? How much more fear of the numerous severe complications that can arise at any time - indeed fear of death itself? How much more sadness over the challenges he must face each day and the loss of the innocence that should have been his childhood?
Instead, I howled with rage when I read: ``No one at the medical schools will disclose how close - or how far - they are. They must be careful, they say, not to reveal too much to rival scientists.''
How did a colleague with a common goal of benefiting suffering humanity become a ``rival''? What has happened to our physicians that they have relegated their sworn duty to heal below their ego needs of recognition and where being victor in the research race is the goal rather than the cooperation amongst all researchers which is essential to solve these medical puzzles - the diseases which cause affliction and death for millions worldwide?
How many times have researchers zealously and with paranoia guarded the pieces of the puzzle that assembled in brotherhood would show us the healing whole? (This is the theme of the fine film, ``Lorenzo's Oil'' which presented this outrage with depth and intelligence.)
This is not to be construed as naivete in the face of the cold reality of medical-research costs and the monumental task of fund-raising. Nor am I inappreciative of the altruistic and very human side of these researchers and their heartfelt desire to help others.
However, is it not time to understand the human advantage as well as the cost-effectiveness of collaboration vs. competition? To understand that putting all of our divine gifts into a collective basket to distribute equitably amongst all is the only answer?
RITA ROS-PLANAS
Virginia Beach, July 11, 1996 by CNB