Posted on 07/26/2006 3:55:47 PM PDT by wagglebee
Last week, the same day President Bush vetoed a bill that would have forced taxpayers to further subsidize embryonic stem-cell experimentation, he signed the Fetus Farming Prohibition Act of 2006.
The former got lots of negative press; the latter caused barely a stir. The latter bode poorly for embryonic stem-cell research's public image. Better to ignore.
At any rate, a ban on fetus farming wasn't controversial, passing unanimously in both the Senate and House. Fetus farming seems far-fetched.
But ratifying FFPA scythed a huge swath through plans of embryonic stem-cell harvesters – laudable quick work by pro-life academics and politicos before the other side's powerful lobby could sway self-interested politicians and Americans.
Researchers have promoted embryonic stem cells as magical, saying they can be coaxed to develop into any type of cell.
But the thesis hasn't stood. ESCs isolated from very young embryos grow wildly into cancerous tumors. That which was extolled, their pliability, makes ESCs difficult, perhaps impossible, to control.
Furthermore, because ESCs come from unique human beings, whatever they might be coaxed to grow into stands as much chance of matching a recipient as, say, bone marrow, another type of stem cell. The likelihood of bone marrow matches between donor and recipient is 1:4 for siblings and 1:20,000 for unrelated people.
Imagine the logistics of growing and storing a minimum of 20,000 livers in a national liver bank. That's just livers. The list of body organs and tissue needed to cure ailments is countless.
Despite those obstacles, ESC proponents inexplicitly reject shifting their focus to adult and umbilical cord research, both of which are morally acceptable and making huge gains. Adult and umbilical stem cells, of course, provide exact matches if the donor is the recipient. There would be no organ or tissue rejections.
No, ESC researchers are determined to walk further down the sinister path, which is why they fight cloning bans. Cloned body parts would also provide exact matches.
What else would increase their odds of success?
Older embryos and fetuses.
("Embryo" is the scientific name for preborns up to 8 weeks old, "fetus" for preborns older than 8 weeks.)
At eight weeks gestation, basic structures for all body systems are established. All remaining time in the uterus is spent growing and refining tissues and organs.
Bioethicist Robert George of Princeton concluded in the Weekly Standard last October that ESC researchers were beginning to look toward older preborn humans.
George explained:
[R]ecent studies show that the problem of tumor formation does not exist in cells taken from cows, mice and other mammals when embryos have been implanted and extracted after several weeks or months of development (i.e., have been gestated to the late embryonic or fetal stage). This means that the real therapeutic potential lies precisely in the practice of fetus farming. Because the developmental process stabilizes cells (which is why we are not all masses of tumors), it is likely true that stem cells, tissues and organs harvested from human beings at, say, 16 or 18 weeks or later could be used in the treatment of diseases.
The other side had already begun the shift.
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's 2005 embryonic stem-cell research executive order not only authorized taxpayer funded human cloning research but also "payment" for "transplantation or implantation of [embryonic] tissue," with no age restriction. It also included "payment" for "cadaveric fetal tissue," or dead fetuses.
In other words, researchers who wrote that executive order were planning to harvest a new crop in Illinois, fetuses, in uterine farms.
George noted his home state of New Jersey had also passed legislation to harvest "cadaveric fetal tissue."
"What the bill envisages and promotes, in other words," wrote George, "is fetus farming."
With the passage of the Fetus Farming Prohibition Act of 2006, one important method to grow crops of fetuses for research has been shot to hell, where it belongs.
But there are still loopholes. Researchers can still grow them in artificial environments.
They can also still use aborted baby parts, the biggest reason why the abortion industry supports ESCR.
One of my sons rented a small home on the corner of a hog farm last year, so I've learned a little about the industry. He told me that sometimes due to rigorous jostling in close quarters, a pig will burst open. In that event, the other pigs will quickly descend upon the eviscerated animal and eat it.
There's an analogy in there somewhere.
But the thesis hasn't stood. ESCs isolated from very young embryos grow wildly into cancerous tumors. That which was extolled, their pliability, makes ESCs difficult, perhaps impossible, to control.
Yet another fact that goes unreported by the media.
Pro-Life Ping
Pro-Life Ping
So, South Park once again was prescient. How do they do it?
The only reason ESCs are being pushed as the panacea for cures for everything rather than Adult stem cell therapy, which actually has succeeded in 70 treatments and cures in humans, is because of big money. Biotech firms want the big bucks for patents on all these so calling coming cures. They cannot get patents on using adult cells from the recipient's own body. This whole thing is about money, not curing people.The ESC people cannot get enough private money, so they have to con the government into providing tax money to keep them going. And they are doing just that by fooling the public into thinking that ESCs are miracles and can cure anything and the people against such cures are all religious extremists. Sad thing is that the public is buying it.
The left knows that if they can get the majority of the public behind ESC research, it will give them another layer of protection for abortion.
Sad thing is that the public is buying it.
I think it is a mistake to use this argument against ESCs. It is true, but may not be true for long. There is some ESC research going on, and it is entirely possible that there will be positive outcomes from some of it.
ESC is destroying human life, and even if research finds a potential use for them, it is still wrong. Taking an innocent life is never justified, no matter what the reason. Saying it has not resulted in any beneficial treatments seems to indicate that if it had then ESC is ok.
The only thing that stood between that stem cell bill and our becoming the United Frankenstein Genocide States of America was the presidential veto. Something for all pro-life voters to think about and ponder well.
I still think that the important thing to emphasize is that it is wrong to take an innocent life. It doesn't matter if it might save someone else. That decision is not ours to make. Each snowflake baby represents one of those embryos. How is their life any less important than the life of someone else?
I don't think it matters whether there is a benefit or not. Wrong is wrong.
What happens if someone finds that ESCs are a beneficial treatment for cancer? Does that change anything?
I also think this most recent ESC legislation that President Bush vetoed was preventing the use of already existing embryos that were frozen in the in vitro process. The parents who did not expect to use the embryos were going to give them for the research.
To my knowledge "fetal farming" does not exist, nor is there any plan to have such an operation. I think they were just planning ahead for that possibility.
Please FreepMail me if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.
I downloaded your book and will read it in a few days. It looks really good.
Because pastors and priests need to understand the difference in stem cell classifications (adult v embryonic), please feel free to share it with your clergy. And don't hesitate to freepmail if there are questions I may be able to help you with. But please, don't call my home phone as one physician in Kansas and one in another state did!... I don't stay at Holiday Inn Express lodging.
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