New NAC website very much in the firing line

This morning Declan thought it best if we left the Catholic Manna Centre at 9.00am, for the third Saturday in a row (see blog of 21 January “Violence and economic strangulation”); on this occasion, Declan was man-handled in the men’s toilets by a homeless who insisted that he engage in conversation with him. We left without Declan getting a bite to eat.

Declan continues to wash in the street, which he has been doing since 10 April last year as a result of all the harassment he has received from other homeless: see, for example, blog of 16 May 2008 “More racially aggravated harassment in the Dellow Centre”; or blog of 18 June 2008 “Declan robbed in the Sisters of Mercy Dellow Centre”; or blog of 19 June 2008 “Declan assaulted in the Manna Centre”. On 18 June 2007, we were barred from the Methodist Church Whitechapel Mission by the minister’s wife due to concerns about our safety after I was assaulted in an unprovoked attack by a homeless woman in the canteen (see here). Declan has written on several occasions to the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, in his capacity as Archbishop of the Diocese of Westminster, to which the Dellow Centre belongs (see blog of 6 November 2008 “Letter to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor”).

It seems that the new NAC website that I am building in support of embryonic stem cell research and therapeutic cloning at http://network.obxhost.net/index.html is still very much in the firing line: Declan had no problem accessing it this morning from the local internet café but I was once again unable to access it or the web host from our local council’s Idea Store Whitechapel (see blog of 23 January “Letter to the Leader of Tower Hamlets Council”). In fact, I still can’t, meaning I can’t upload an article by Steven Pinker entitled “The Stupidity of Dignity” (see below).

Pinker, world-renowned thinker and Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University (and an honorary associate of NAC and early signatory of Declan’s petition to the UN on therapeutic cloning), argues that the concept of dignity is natural ground on which to build an obstructionist bioethics. It’s not surprising, then, he wrote on 28 May last, that ‘dignity’ is a recurring theme in Catholic doctrine: The word appears more than 100 times in the 1997 edition of the Catechism and is a leitmotif in the Vatican’s recent pronouncements on biomedicine. In its most authoritative declaration on bioethics for more than 20 years, the Vatican released on 12 December a 32-page document titled “Dignitas Personae” (the dignity of a person).

As I stated in the previous blog, we received our first donation last Monday and I believe this may be influencing things: perhaps to discourage somebody else for doing the same. For example, this morning I emailed 35 scientists and academics in New York State inviting them to sign Declan’s petition to the UN on therapeutic cloning but received no autoreplies and no-one has signed – I received one undelivered email to my spam box. To date, the petition has been signed by 589 scientists and academics, who include recognised authorities from the world’s leading universities and research institutes, as well as 24 Nobel Laureates.

This is the document (three pages) I am waiting to upload:

New NAC website doesn't display uploaded pages

This morning we received an email from an honorary associate of NAC informing us that one of two lead items on the homepage of the new NAC website that I am building in support of embryonic stem cell research and therapeutic cloning at http://network.obxhost.net/index.html “does not exist”. Yesterday, Declan was unable to access the site for a whole hour from our local council’s Idea Store Whitechapel (see previous blog), from where last Thursday we could access neither the site nor the web host for the entire day (see blog of 23 January “Letter to the Leader of Tower Hamlets Council”). Also yesterday, I couldn’t upload an article for two hours on the first human trial using embryonic stem cells as a medical treatment - the web host obxhost.net kept informing me that “permission was denied”. According to their website, this web host is a leading free web site hosting provider whose service is highly reliable:



Although the new NAC website was blocklisted only on Tuesday (see blog “New NAC website blocklisted”), I think it is pointless at this stage to change web host. On 8 March 2008, the original NAC website was suspended due to what turned out to be spam as reported via SpamCop on 6 March (see blog of 14 March “SpamCop reports Declan as a spammer”). As I have stated in two blogs now, I believe there is link between SpamCop’s report to our web host branding us as spammers and an email Declan received the day previous, on 5 March, from the Home Office advising in response to several emails he addressed to Home Secretary Jacqueline Smith that no warrant to intercept his communications had been issued (see blog of 9 March “Home Office denies warrant to intercept communications”) - since 22 October 2007, I have been emailing scientists and academics inviting them to sign Declan’s petition to the UN on therapeutic cloning; to date, the petition has been signed by 589 scientists and academics, who include recognised authorities from the world’s leading universities and research institutes, as well as 24 Nobel Laureates.

We received our first donation on Monday, which I believe may be influencing things. Since then, we have been blocklisted, I have been unable to upload pages, we have been unable to access the site from our local library, and the website hasn’t displayed uploaded pages. All we can do is keep going, so today I have uploaded our third homepage lead item, namely a piece from the Center for Inquiry, New York on the Vatican’s recent condemnation of human embryonic stem cell research and IVF in its most authoritative declaration on bioethics for more than 20 years. According to the CFI, the Vatican’s position has no justification other than religious doctrine, and may have a serious adverse effect on scientific research and the development of medical therapies.

Still problems with the new NAC website

It seems our difficulties with the new NAC website I am building in support of embryonic stem cell research and therapeutic cloning at http://network.obxhost.net/index.html (launched the Monday before last) are well from over. Declan was once again unable to access the site from our local council’s Idea Store Whitechapel; we frequently run into trouble in this library, especially with internet access and computer bookings (see, for example, last Friday’s blog “Letter to the Leader of Tower Hamlets Council”).

I had no luck either. After working on a piece for our homepage - relating the FDAs announcement last Friday that it had cleared the way for the world’s first clinical trial of a therapy derived from human embryonic stem cells - I couldn’t upload for well over two hours; the web host obxhost.net kept informing me that “permission was denied”. Not even two trips to the local internet café resolved the matter, and in fact it is only a few minutes ago that I was allowed to upload the piece, citing “a new era in medicine”. According to their website, OBXHost.net is “a leading Free Web Site Hosting Provider” whose “service is highly reliable”. They add that they only use “quality high end servers”.

As I said in the previous blog following the blocklisting of our new site only the day before yesterday, perhaps I am just unfortunate with the websites I build. On 8 March 2008, the original NAC website was suspended due to what turned out to be spam as reported via SpamCop on 6 March (see blog of 14 March “SpamCop reports Declan as a spammer”). I believe there is link between SpamCop’s report to our web host branding us as spammers and an email Declan received the day previous, on 5 March, from the Home Office advising in response to several emails he addressed to Home Secretary Jacqueline Smith that no warrant to intercept his communications had been issued (see blog of 9 March Home Office denies warrant to intercept communications - since 22 October 2007, I have been emailing scientists and academics inviting them to sign Declan’s petition to the UN on therapeutic cloning; to date, the petition has been signed by 589 scientists and academics, who include recognised authorities from the world’s leading universities and research institutes, as well as 24 Nobel Laureates.

This is the email Declan sent this evening to the acting Idea Store Whitechapel manager:

Dear Ms Randall

With reference to my recent email to the Leader of Tower Hamlets Council, I am in receipt of an email from the Council stating: “Ms Lisa Randall, the acting Idea Store Whitechapel Manager, is available and willing to discuss the detailed matters you have raised with regard to the service [at Idea Store Whitechapel].”

I wish to confirm that this afternoon at Idea Store Whitechapel, between 1.10pm and 2.10pm, I was unable to access my website at http://network.obxhost.net/index.html; MIMEsweeper stating: “DNS look-up failed for ‘network.obxhost.net’”. I subsequently experienced no such difficulty on the same computer between 2.10pm and 7.10pm.

I would be obliged if any discourse between us on this matter would be confined to writing in order to avoid any misunderstanding that may occur.

Please would you acknowledge receipt.

Yours sincerely
Declan Heavey
Card no. D000355837

First Human Trial of Embryo-Derived Treatment

The violence and economic strangulation against us continues unabated (see blog of 21 January “Violence and economic strangulation”). As I stated in the previous blog, on Saturday Declan thought it best if we left the Catholic Manna Centre, without even a bite to eat - the second time in a week that we have felt the need to do so. In the blog of 17 November, I wrote that our Big Issue pitches - The Big Issue is a magazine sold by homeless people on registered pitches throughout the UK - have been terminated (see blog of 11 November “Letter of complaint to the chair of The Big Issue Foundation Charity”). We can still sell the magazine on the pitches we had for two years but we have no priority whatsoever: we have to leave the pitches if the vendors to whom they have been allocated come along, and not stand in on them at all if a vendor is already there. This is an extremely serious situation for me in particular, in that I am facing possible prosecution for begging.



The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared to proceed the first human trial of a therapy based on human embryonic stem cells, in a study that promises to open a new era for medicine, The Times reported last Friday. Paralysed patients will this summer become the first people in the world to receive the therapy, which has huge potential to cure disease yet is considered unethical by “pro-life” groups because it involves destroying embryos.

The decision marks a sea-change in US government attitudes to stem cells, as President Obama prepares to lift restrictions imposed by President Bush that hampered progress in the field. Mr Obama pledged in his inaugural address to “restore science to its rightful place”, and to end White House obstruction of stem-cell research.

The new FDA ruling will allow doctors to inject specialised spinal cells grown from embryonic tissue into patients who have just become paralysed from the chest down. It is hoped that the cell transplants will prompt regrowth of damaged nerves, restoring sensation and movement to people who would otherwise have been paralysed for life. The treatment will be used on people a week or two after they suffer their spinal injury; it cannot help those already paralysed.

A successful trial would transform the prospects of thousands of people for whom few treatment options currently exist, said The Times, adding that if the results are positive, the therapy could be approved for wider use within three to five years.

Thomas Okarma, chief executive of the Geron, which developed the treatment, is quoted by the paper as saying: “This marks the beginning of what is potentially a new chapter in medical therapeutics - one that reaches beyond pills to a new level of healing: the restoration of organ and tissue function by the injection of healthy replacement cells. The ultimate goal is to achieve restoration of spinal cord function.”

In a recent paper published in the Journal of Medical Ethics, Professor Ronald Green, Faculty Director of Dartmouth’s Ethics Institute, writes:

At present, opposition to hES cell research is a relatively cost-free stance that permits those adopting it to reap many symbolic and organisational rewards. This could change if hES cell research fulfils its therapeutic promise. For the past few years, I have been predicting that our stem cell debates will end abruptly the day after the first diabetic child walks out of a stem cell clinic cured of the disease. If families must choose between embryos and treatments for sick loved ones, the full gravity of these commitments will become clearer. Then, the family-values component of the anti-hES cell position will be internally challenged, as people will ask how they best can express their commitment to the welfare of families and children. Is it by opposing the destruction of human embryos, or by turning spare, and otherwise doomed, embryos to human benefit? If that happens, I believe, many of the opponents will look anew at their real valuation of the early embryo, and most will opt for cures.

Geron’s trial will soon appear as the second lead item on the homepage of our new website in support of embryonic stem cell research and therapeutic cloning (launched last Monday); Professor Green’s article will appear as a link. They would be there now if it wasn’t for the fact that my first computer at our local council’s Idea Store Whitechapel is at 1.15pm and I am restricted to a maximum of three hours – we frequently run into difficulties at this library (see, for example, Friday’s blog “Letter to the Leader of Tower Hamlets Council”; on Thursday I was unable to access either our website or the web host). Our fight to raise £450 for a laptop to build the site continues. Today we received a first donation of £20. It was a momentous occasion for us both, actually.

New York State – Take action

This morning Declan thought it best if we left the Catholic Manna Centre at 9.00am, without even a bit to eat; only the third time we have done so since we learnt about the place back last Easter, and the second time in a week (see blog of 21 January “Violence and economic strangulation”). Declan continues to wash in the street, which he has been doing since 10 April last year as a result of all the harassment he has received from other homeless: see, for example, blog of 16 May 2008 “More racially aggravated harassment in the Dellow Centre”; or blog of 18 June 2008 “Declan robbed in the Sisters of Mercy Dellow Centre”; or blog of 19 June 2008 “Declan assaulted in the Manna Centre”. Oh, and on 18 June 2007 we were barred from the Methodist Church Whitechapel Mission by the minister’s wife due to concerns about our safety, after I was assaulted in an unprovoked attack by a homeless woman in the canteen (see here). Declan has written on several occasions to the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, in his capacity as Archbishop of the Diocese of Westminster, to which the Dellow Centre belongs (see blog of 6 November 2008 “Letter to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor”).

With respect to the new NAC website in support of embryonic stem cell research and therapeutic cloning (see blog of 19 January “NAC website launched”), this afternoon we finalised our Take action, which is part of New York State under Law and Policy in the USA. We are not the only ones aware that on Monday the ethics committee of New York’s Empire State Stem Cell Board will meet and consider whether payments to women who donate their eggs for stem cell research should be permitted: Jesse Reynolds of the Center for Genetics and Society, a nonprofit public policy organisation based in California, is against and has written an opinion in Newsday.

This is our Take action (Richard Daines is the New York State Health Commissioner and chairs the Empire State Stem Cell Board):

Dear Commissioner Daines

I understand that at the state level the issue of compensation of oocyte (egg) donors is arising in the deliberations of New York’s Empire State Stem Cell Board which was created legislatively in 2007 to provide state funding for stem cell research. In this letter, I urge you and the other members of the Empire State Stem Cell Board Ethics Committee to permit compensation to women who donate their eggs for stem cell research that seeks to use somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) - sometimes referred to as “therapeutic cloning” to distinguish it from reproductive cloning research - to produce embryonic stem cells.

There is no sound, persuasive ethical reasons why New York State funds should not be available to compensate egg donors. This view was endorsed at the Ethics Committee meeting of 22 February 2008 by Dr Henry Greely, who is the Deane F and Kate Edelman Johnson Professor of Law at Stanford University and chairs the California Advisory Committee on Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research. He suggested New York should allow some compensation for gamete donation because it is not unethical for women to receive some compensation for their pain, suffering and time. However, he also recommended establishing some type of limit on the amount of compensation paid to donors.

On 27 June 2008, Dr Catherine Racowsky, Director of the Assisted Reproductive Technology Lab at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and an Associate Professor of reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School, presented information to the Ethics Committee on the risks of ovarian stimulation, surgical risks, psychological risks, cancer risks, and risks to future fertility. Committee members were advised that Dr Racowsky served on the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Assessing the Medical Risks of Human Oocyte Donation for Stem Cell Research (IOM Committee) that developed the report by the same name that was distributed to Board members in May.

Dr Racowsky concluded that with appropriate selection and careful monitoring of stimulation, ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome should be preventable in all or almost all egg donors; that the anesthetic and surgery risks are very low; that there are potential psychological risks that can be addressed in most cases with appropriate counselling; and that most cancer studies are reassuring in not showing a strong association between fertility drug use and cancer rates, although some have shown increased risk with greater drug use or when patients have been followed over a longer period of time. In response to questions from Board members, Dr Racowsky stated that she thought egg donors should be compensated, but noted that how that is done is very tricky in light of the potential for undue inducement.

Moreover, Dr Carl Coleman, who is the Director of the Health, Law and Policy Program at Seton Hall Law School and was previously Counsel, and then Executive Director, to the New York State Task Force on Life and the Law, suggested to the members of the Ethics Committee on 4 September 2008 that thinking of an egg donor as a research subject makes sense and that the compensation for research subjects and IVF donors often includes consideration of the time, inconvenience, and discomfort, and in some cases, the risk.

It is important to include in the ethical analysis the potential for good that can come from SCNT. The Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research (CAMR) is the USA’s leading bipartisan pro-cures coalition. In a report released on 12 January 2009 entitled “A Catalyst for Cures: Embryonic Stem Cell Research”, CAMR states: “Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is another example of a technology with promise that has faced unexpected challenges. Oocyte availability, for example, has been problematic. Yet the challenges are worth overcoming. ‘SCNT is the only known procedure for completely and normally reprogramming a cell,’ says John Gearhart, University of Pennsylvania. Because SCNT is more efficient than iPS cell technology for reprogramming cells, and can be done without inserting new genes, continued studies of SCNT could help scientists find the linchpin to make reprogramming factors more efficient and effective. SCNT will also provide fundamental insights into how an egg reprograms that will teach a great deal about basic biology.”

Yours sincerely

Letter to the Leader of Tower Hamlets Council

For the record, below is the letter that Declan sent this afternoon by email and registered post to the Leader of Tower Hamlets Council, Councillor Lutfur Rahman, who is also the Leader of the Labour Group, concerning the Council’s Idea Store Whitechapel, the borough’s flagship library, learning and information service. We frequently run into trouble in the library, especially with internet access and computer bookings (see, for example, the previous blog: all day yesterday I couldn’t access the new NAC website at
http://network.obxhost.net/index.html from the Idea Store; in fact, I couldn’t even access the web host OBXHost.net to upload my work).

In response to Declan’s last email of 9 January to Cllr Rahman, a senior management support officer replied within minutes as follows:

from: Sharon Ball
to: Declan Heavey
date: Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 2:21 PM
subject RE: Idea Store Whitechapel

Hi Sergio
Please could you have a look at the email below, I am unsure who/how it should be actioned.

Sharon Ball
Senior Management Support Officer
020 7364 5965

Declan hasn’t heard further from this support officer but as the word ‘actioned’ is somewhat ambiguous, he has included the full contents of his email letter of 9 January to Cllr Rahman in the email he sent earlier this afternoon:

from: Declan Heavey
to: cllr.lutfur.rahman@towerhamlets.gov.uk
date: Fri, Jan 23, 2008 at 4:08 PM
subject: Idea Store Whitechapel
mailed-by: gmail.com

Dear Cllr Rahman

I am writing to you in your capacity as Leader of Tower Hamlets Council to refer further to the attached copy of my most recent correspondence with the Head of Idea Stores, Mr Ian McNicol, to whom the former Leader of Tower Hamlets Council, Cllr Denise Jones, referred my original complaint of 21 January 2008 regarding Idea Store Whitechapel and the repeated loss of computer bookings and internet access on both my wife's card (card no. D000350314) and my card (card no. D000355837) since 14 November 2007.

In the absence of a response from Mr McNichol with respect to the aforementioned complaint, I wish to draw to your attention that yesterday at Idea Store Whitechapel between 1.15pm and 7.15pm I was unable to access either my website at http://network.obxhost.net/index.html or the associated web host OBXHost.net (see second attachment for a copy of a snag of a MIMEsweeper notice stating: "DNS look-up failed for 'network.obxhost.net'"). According to their website, OBXHost.net is "a leading Free Web Site Hosting Provider" whose "service is highly reliable". They add that they only use "quality high end servers that are constantly monitored 24 hours a day to ensure your site is always online".

As I mentioned in my previous email to you of 9 January, a member of staff at Idea Store Whitechapel on 8 January could not offer an explanation as to why the computer I had booked was the only computer out of a network of 24 computers on the floor to have slowed down to a virtual standstill when no other computer on the floor had a complaint of any description against it. I reconfirm that since my complaint of 21 January 2008 to Cllr Jones, my wife and I not only have experienced repeated loss of computer bookings and internet access, but several other problems to boot. For example:

(i) 1 February 2008: the Principal Idea Store Manager, Mr Sergio Dogliani, wrote to me advising that the restriction by Idea Store Whitechapel of both my wife and I to a 3-hour maximum free computer use per day as from 29 January stands, despite that for several previous months we were given "additional time" subject to computer availability and in accordance with the Council's then and current "Idea Stores PC Usage Policy";

(ii) 24 June 2008: at approximately 12.30pm, a member of staff threatened my wife with "security" if she did not give her computer up to another card holder, despite that thirty minutes earlier a member of staff had confirmed in writing that my wife had booked the computer from 11.30am to 2.30pm;

(iii) 3 August 2008: both of the computers my wife and I had booked the previous day contained an identical virus which spread to the two USB drives we were using. This rendered my wife's portable programs inoperable. It also corrupted some of my most valuable data: a database containing the names, email addresses and contact information for over 3,000 scientists and academics from around the world, and a related Word document containing a categorised list of over 150 British signatories of a petition of mine to the United Nations on therapeutic cloning;

(iv) 6 August 2008: at approximately 2.45pm, MIMEsweeper blocked access to my Google Mail account due to "Porn Detected". At 3.10pm, following the restoration of my access to the account, the IT technician informed me without explanation that "it may happen again for any length of time".

As I explained in my original complaint to you of 4 August 2008 following (iii) above, since 22 October 2007 my wife and I have been using as much of our computer time in Idea Store Whitechapel as possible to contact scientists and academics to invite them to sign my petition to the United Nations on therapeutic cloning, also known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). To date, this petition has been signed by 589 scientists and academics, who include recognised authorities from the world's leading universities and research institutes, as well as 24 Nobel Laureates.

I once again acknowledge receipt of an email of 7 August 2008 from your Personal Assistant, Ms Rachel Bielby, stating: "Cllr Rahman is now on leave until the end of August. I have asked the office of the Director of Communities, Localities and Culture's office to deal with your correspondence." I confirm that on 9 January, minutes after my previous email to you, I received an email from Senior Management Support Officer, Ms Sharon Ball, questioning only whether any of the reconfirmed information above is 'actionable' by Tower Hamlets Council.

Please would you acknowledge receipt.

Yours sincerely
Declan Heavey

No access to new NAC website

With respect to the new NAC website in support of embryonic stem cell research and therapeutic cloning (see blog of 19 January “NAC website launched”), I was hoping to upload more New York State documents today, minus a “Take action” on payment for egg donation which the ethics committee of the Empire State Stem Cell Board is currently discussing. Alas, after spending an hour putting the finishing touches to a new banner, I found out that I couldn’t access the site at http://network.obxhost.net/index.html from our local council’s Idea Store Whitechapel. In fact, I can’t even access the web host OBXHost.net to upload the work.



According to their website, OBXHost.net is “a leading Free Web Site Hosting Provider” whose “service is highly reliable”. They add that they only use “quality high end servers that are constantly monitored 24 hours a day to ensure your site is always online”. I find it a bit difficult to believe that OBXHost.net has been down for over five hours now.

Perhaps I am just unlucky with the websites I build. On 8 March 2008, the original NAC website was suspended due to what turned out to be spam as reported via SpamCop on 6 March (see blog of 14 March “SpamCop reports Declan as a spammer”); only the day before SpamCop’s report to our web host branding us as spammers, the Home Office emailed Declan on behalf of Home Secretary Jacqueline Smith to confirm that no warrant to intercept his communications had been issued - since 22 October 2007, I have been contacting scientists and academics to invite them to sign Declan’s petition to the UN on therapeutic cloning; to date this petition has been signed by 588 scientists and academics, who - despite excessive spamming (see, for example, blog of 5 December “On red alert”) - include recognised authorities from the world’s leading universities and research institutes, as well as 24 Nobel Laureates.

This is the new NAC banner:



With no access to the new NAC website to upload more NYS documents, tomorrow I will turn to a “Take action” in respect of payment for egg donation which will make the case that donors should not be paid for their eggs, but rather they should be compensated for the burdens of egg retrieval (reference: Steinbock B. Payment for egg donation and surrogacy. Mt Sinai J Med 2004;71:255-265). This take action - for the NYS subsection entitled “Empire State Stem Cell Board” - will be uploaded here as some previous NYS documents have been.

Violence and economic strangulation

For two years we survived on the streets of London by selling The Big Issue, a magazine sold by homeless people on registered pitches throughout the UK. As I wrote in the blog of 17 November, our Big Issue pitches have been terminated (see blog of 11 November “Letter of complaint to the chair of The Big Issue Foundation Charity”). Although we can still sell the magazine on the pitches we had for two years, we have no priority whatsoever: we have to leave if the vendors to whom the pitches have been allocated come along, and not stand in on the pitches at all if a vendor is already there – the former was experienced by Declan this evening (a first in three weeks). The fact that we don’t have pitches any more is particularly serious for me, because I am facing possible prosecution for begging.

With respect to our campaign in support of embryonic stem cell research and therapeutic cloning, I announced in Monday’s blog that the website is launched at http://network.obxhost.net/index.html - the same morning Declan was virtually attacked by a rough sleeper outside the Catholic Sisters of Mercy Dellow Centre (see blog of 6 November 2008 “Letter to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor”; Declan has written on several occasions to Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, in his capacity as Archbishop of the Diocese of Westminster, to which the Dellow Centre belongs). I am hoping to have finished uploading New York State within a few days, including a “Take action” in respect of payment for egg donation which the ethics committee of the Empire State Stem Cell Board is currently discussing. The Take action will make the case that donors should not be paid for their eggs, but rather they should be compensated for the burdens of egg retrieval (reference: Steinbock B. Payment for egg donation and surrogacy. Mt Sinai J Med 2004;71:255-265).

Letter to the Leader of Tower Hamlets Council

For the record, below is the email letter that Declan sent this afternoon to the Leader of Tower Hamlets Council, Councillor Lutfur Rahman, who is also the Leader of the Labour Group, concerning the Council's Idea Store Whitechapel, the borough's flagship library, learning and information service. We frequently run into trouble in the library, especially with internet access and computer bookings (see, for example, blog of 5 January "New York State home page"; while at a computer in the library, I was pushed quite hard by a guy after I refused to let him borrow my USB drive).

The email was copied to Sharon Ball, with whom the former Manager of Idea Store Whitechapel Zoinul Abidin advised Declan yesterday to communicate. She replied to Declan within minutes as follows:

from: Sharon Ball
to: Declan Heavey
date: Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 2:21 PM
subject RE: Idea Store Whitechapel

Hi Sergio

Please could you have a look at the email below, I am unsure who/how it should be actioned.

Sharon Ball
Senior Management Support Officer
020 7364 5965

And this is Declan's email this afternoon to Cllr Rahman, to which Ball referred:

from: Declan Heavey
to: cllr.lutfur.rahman@towerhamlets.gov.uk
date: Fri, Jan 9, 2008 at 2:16 PM
subject: Idea Store Whitechapel
mailed-by: gmail.com

Dear Cllr Rahman

I am writing to you in your capacity as Leader of Tower Hamlets Council to refer further to the attached copy of my most recent correspondence with the Head of Idea Stores, Mr Ian McNicol, to whom the former Leader of Tower Hamlets Council, Cllr Denise Jones, referred my original complaint of 21 January 2008 regarding Idea Store Whitechapel and the repeated loss of computer bookings and internet access on both my wife's card (card no. D000350314) and my card (card no. D000355837) since 14 November 2007.

In the absence of a response from Mr McNichol with respect to the aforementioned complaint, I wish to confirm that yesterday afternoon at approximately 2.15pm the computer I had booked from 2.00pm to 3.00pm slowed down to a virtual stand-still. According to the staff member on floor duty, in the absence of the IT technician (who was "not at work") he could not offer an explanation as to why the computer I had booked was the only computer out of a network of 24 computers on the floor 1 to have a complaint of any description against it.

I reconfirm that since my complaint of 21 January 2008 to Cllr Jones, my wife and I have not only experienced repeated loss of computer bookings and internet access, but several other problems to boot. For example:

(i) 1 February 2008: the Principal Idea Store Manager, Mr Sergio Dogliani, wrote to me advising that the restriction by Idea Store Whitechapel of my wife and I to a 3-hour maximum free computer use per day as from 29 January stands, despite that for several previous months we were given "additional time" subject to computer availability and in accordance with the Council's then and current "Idea Stores PC Usage Policy";

(ii) 24 June 2008: at approximately 12.30pm, a member of staff threatened my wife with "security" if she did not give her computer up to another card holder, despite that thirty minutes earlier a member of staff had confirmed in writing that my wife had booked the computer from 11.30am to 2.30pm;

(iii) 3 August 2008: both of the computers my wife and I had booked the previous day contained an identical virus which spread to the two USB drives we were using - rendering not only my wife's portable programs inoperable, but corrupting some of my most valuable data: a Word document of a categorised list of British signatories of my petition to the United Nations on therapeutic cloning, also known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT); and an associated database containing the names, email addresses and contact information relating to over 3,000 scientists and academics from around the world;

(iv) 6 August 2008: at approximately 2.45pm, MIMEsweeper, the filter software used by the Idea Store network, blocked access to my Google Mail account due to "Porn Detected". At 3.10pm, following my access to the account, the IT technician informed me (without explanation) that "it may happen again for any length of time".

As I explained in my original complaint to you of 4 August 2008 following (iii) above, since 22 October 2007 my wife and I have been using as much of our computer time in Idea Store Whitechapel as possible to contact scientists and academics to invite them to sign my petition to the United Nations on SCNT and the use of stem cells for research and for the treatment of disease. To date, this petition has been signed by 588 scientists and academics, who include recognised authorities from the world's leading universities and research institutes, as well as 24 Nobel Laureates.

I again acknowledge receipt of an email of 7 August 2008 from your Personal Assistant, Ms Rachel Bielby, stating: "Cllr Rahman is now on leave until the end of August. I have asked the office of the Director of Communities, Localities and Culture's office to deal with your correspondence." I can confirm that I have not heard from this office, nor indeed from anyone for and on behalf of Tower Hamlets Council, or, for that matter, Idea Store Whitechapel. (On 21 January 2008, the same date as my original complaint to Cllr Jones, the former Manager of Idea Store Whitechapel, Mr Zoinul Abidin, emailed me to advise that I should direct any complaints I might have to the Council's corporate complaints section. He added: "In future please approach them for any queries, as opposed to sending e-mails to me." Mr Abidin's last day of service with Idea Stores/Tower Hamlets Council was on 7 November 2008.)

Please would you acknowledge receipt.

Yours sincerely
Declan Heavey

cc Ms Sharon Ball, Manager, Idea Store Whitechapel (by email)

New York State - Advocacy efforts

For two years we survived on the streets of London by selling The Big Issue, a magazine sold by homeless people on registered pitches throughout the UK. As I wrote in the blog of 17 November, our Big Issue pitches have been terminated (see blog of 11 November “Letter of complaint to the chair of The Big Issue Foundation Charity”); and although we can still sell the magazine on the pitches we had for two years, we have no priority whatsoever: we have to leave if the vendors to whom the pitches have been allocated come along, and not stand in on the pitches at all if a vendor is already there – the former was experienced by Declan this evening (a first in over two years). The fact that we don’t have pitches any more is particularly serious for me, because I am facing possible prosecution for begging.

In the previous blog “New York State home page” in respect of our website in support of embryonic stem cell research and therapeutic cloning, I presented, as well as the content of the New York State home page, the navigation menu of New York State under Law and Policy in the USA, which includes Advocacy efforts, a snag of which is presented below in a page from the Greenpeace International website. As soon as I have the few New York State snags done, I will quickly build a website loosely based on Greenpeace International and Greenpeace UK which I will then upload to a free hosting service. This snag cannot be read so below it I have transcribed the content. (The blog of 18 November, “Our sleeping pitch is soaked”, includes a snag of a page from the NAC website suspended on 8 March.)



The caption of the picture reads: University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. The University of Rochester played major roles in the events leading up to the 2007 stem cell research legislation, both in advocacy and in crafting the provisions and scientific language contained in the bill.

The navigation menu of Advocacy Efforts: NYAMR Member Organisations; University of Rochester White Paper.

And the main text:

Advocacy efforts

In the spring of 2007, the New York State Legislature committed $600 million over 11 years to be spent on stem cell research, an initiative that could potentially become the greatest scientific undertaking in the history of New York State. This initiative, administered by the Department of Health through the New York State Stem Cell Science (NYSTEM) program under the direction of the Empire State Stem Cell Board, could not have occurred without the support of the medical, scientific, voluntary health and patient advocacy communities who urged the state to embrace this promising field of science.

New Yorkers for the Advancement of Medical Research (NYAMR)

In August 2007, Dr Maria Mitchell, President of the Academic Medicine Development Company (AMDeC), a consortium of 30 of New York State’s medical schools, academic health centers and major medical research institutions, announced that AMDeC would become the host organisation for New Yorkers for the Advancement of Medical Research (NYAMR), a statewide coalition of 46 organisations advocating for state funding in support of regenerative medicine, including stem cell research. NYAMR was previously housed at the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation.

NYAMR grew out of AMDeC’s successful 2003 genomics-related conference in Albany, where the late actor and stem cell research advocate Christopher Reeve joined New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Reeve gave an impassioned speech in favour of stem cell research, while Speaker Silver announced passage by the Assembly of legislation expressly endorsing stem cell research. Speaker Silver, a strong proponent of biomedical research in New York, championed the bill which passed with an overwhelming majority in the Assembly, but, failed to get through the Senate.

However, out of the ashes of New York’s stalled effort to pass this bill, arose something promising – NYAMR. What began as a small like minded group including AMDeC, the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and Hadassah, grew to several dozen diverse research, patient disease, economic development and citizen advocacy organisations.

From its inception, NYAMR took on a leadership role in advising and educating state legislators and policymakers about the importance – from a scientific and economic perspective – of state support for stem cell research. NYAMR consulted directly with Albany lawmakers to help design the Empire State Stem Cell Funding Program.

NYAMR continues to monitor closely the funding program to ensure its effective implementation.

University of Rochester

The University of Rochester played major roles in the events leading up to the 2007 legislation, both in advocacy and in crafting the provisions and scientific language contained in the bill. UR President Joel Seligman spearheaded the advocacy efforts of University Presidents and Chancellors, working with UR scientists and governmental relations staff to write a key White Paper entitled “New York and Stem Cell Research: A Scientific, Therapeutic, Economic, and Policy Analysis”, released on 6 February 2006.

This document, signed by the Presidents and Chancellors of 17 New York State universities and other institutions with substantial biomedical and life sciences research programs, details the competitive research environment that had emerged in the previous several years and its implications for the state’s biomedical research community and economy.

The Rochester White Paper makes the following case in support of NYS funding of stem cell research: Federal funding restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research have prompted several states to establish state-based research funds aimed at capturing the scientific and commercial potential of this new field of medicine. While New York’s research institutions are widely acknowledged to possess the scientific talent that would enable the state to be a major leader internationally in stem cell research, there is significant risk that researchers in New York will be recruited away to institutions in other states where they would have access to more resources to pursue their research. The loss of these scientists will have a significant negative ripple effect on a university’s entire research enterprise as research grants, junior scientists, biotech companies, and venture capital will similarly migrate to those institutions that are perceived to be on the cutting edge of biomedical research. A decline in the fortunes of New York’s biomedical research community in turn would have significant economic consequences for the entire state. New York’s State universities, teaching hospitals, and research laboratories contribute significantly to the state’s economy through employment, through spending and through the development of innovative products and concepts for the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.

The Empire State Stem Cell Board Funding Committee held a meeting on 27 June 2008 at the NYS Department of Health offices – State Health Commissioner Richard Daines presided as chairperson. Robin Elliott, NYAMR’s former chairperson, appointed to serve as one of thirteen members on the funding committee, suggested that in assessing the economic and other benefits of the NYSTEM initiative the ESSC Board and staff refer to the Rochester White Paper, according to the minutes of the meeting.

New York State home page

The last week of December we spent indoors with a couple of hundred rough sleepers and a lot of volunteers in an annual Christmas project run by Crisis. So for a week no cleaner could hose us out of our sleeping pitch (see blog of 8 December “Hosed out of our sleeping pitch”), and no employee could tell us to stay away until 1.00am due to there being a “function” (see, for example, blog of 5 December “On red alert”). Still, yesterday Declan decided it was better if we left the Catholic Manna Centre at 10.15am after a homeless guy sat provocatively in his chair, beside our bags (see, for example, blog of 19 June “Declan assaulted in the Manna Centre”) – on Saturday, a homeless guy sat in my chair during lunch shouting, among other things, “Jesus is my savoir”.

And this evening, while at a computer in our local council’s Idea Store Whitechapel library, I was pushed quite hard by a guy after I refused to let him borrow my USB drive – we often run into trouble in this library, especially with internet access and computer bookings (see blog of 13 October “Letter to the Leader of Tower Hamlets Council”).

For the last week I have been working on law and policy in New York State for our website in support of embryonic stem cell research and therapeutic cloning, also known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (for more about the campaign website see blog of 1 November “Can a cell have a soul?”). In fact, I have now finalised the content of my New York State home page, a snag of which is presented below in a page from the Greenpeace International website. As soon as I have the few New York State snags done, I will quickly build a website loosely based on Greenpeace International and Greenpeace UK which I will then upload to a free hosting service. This snag cannot be read so below it I have transcribed the content. (The blog of 18 November, “Our sleeping pitch is soaked”, includes a snag of a page from the NAC website suspended on 8 March.)



The caption of the picture reads: Mike Discipio, who was made a quadriplegic in a swimming accident and lives in the town of Colonie. Discipio came to the Capitol in 2005 to support state legislation for human embryonic stem cell research.

The navigation menu of New York State under Law and Policy in the USA: Empire State Stem Cell Board; Advocacy efforts; New York State Catholic Conference.

And the main text:

NEW YORK STATE

On 1 April 2007, the New York State Legislature passed a budget measure that provides $600 million over 11 years to fund stem cell research. The state earmarked $100 million for fiscal year 2008, and $500 million at $50 million per year for ten years beginning in fiscal year 2009. With this funding, New York's investment in stem cell science is surpassed only by the state of California.

The initiative is administered by the Department of Health through the New York State Stem Cell Science (NYSTEM) program under the direction of the Empire State Stem Cell (ESSC) Board which is comprised of two committees: a funding and ethics committee.

The agreed-upon Enacted Budget sets a broad definition for stem cells as "stem or progenitor cells that divide and are capable of generating one or more different types of progeny". This includes human embryonic stem cells and umbilical cord cells in addition to adult stem cells. While the bill excludes funding for stem cell research for human reproductive cloning, it makes no stipulation against funding for therapeutic cloning, also known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT).

For a number of years, and spurred by the 2004 passage of Proposition 71 in California – authorising the state to spend up to $3 billion in stem cell research over ten years – NYS legislators had been trying to pass a funding initiative for stem cell research. They succeeded in 2007 thanks to the support of former Democratic Governor Eliot Spitzer. Elected in 2006, Spitzer originally proposed a $2.1 billion Stem Cell and Innovation Fund program.

The University of Rochester (UR) played major roles in the events leading up to the 2007 legislation, both in advocacy and in crafting the provisions and scientific language contained in the bill. UR President Joel Seligman spearheaded the advocacy efforts of University Presidents and Chancellors, working with UR scientists and governmental relations staff to write a key White Paper entitled "New York and Stem Cell Research: A Scientific, Therapeutic, Economic, and Policy Analysis", released on 6 February 2006.

Critical to the advocacy efforts was New Yorkers for the Advancement of Medical Research (NYAMR), a coalition of patient advocacy groups, faith-affiliated organisations, medical colleges and biotechnology companies that have a shared interest in encouraging and funding embryonic stem cell research in New York State. This 46-member coalition includes the Parkinson's Disease Foundation, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Hadassah, the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, the Michael J Fox Foundation, the Biotechnology Association of New York, and numerous other stakeholders.

According to the website of the New York State Catholic Conference, which represents the Catholic bishops of New York State in matters of public policy, the state funding of human embryonic stem cell research and SCNT "is both fiscally irresponsible and morally indefensible". The Conference views such research as "an alarming assault on the dignity and value of human life", and supports legislation at both the state and federal levels to prohibit it. Approximately 10 percent of health care services statewide are provided by the state's 30 Catholic-sponsored hospitals and their 172 related clinics; 54 nursing homes; and 22 Catholic-sponsored home care agencies and long-term home health care programs.

The majority of New Yorkers support embryonic stem cell research, as demonstrated by a 2006 Zogby International poll which found that 84 percent of New Yorkers support embryonic stem cell research. Nearly 70 percent of those polled expressed support for state funding as a way of countering former President George W Bush's policy restricting federal funding to research that only uses human embryonic stem cell lines in existence as of 9 August 2001.