Posted on 09/17/2006 12:11:36 PM PDT by Coleus
A panel learns how the controversial research is already benefiting some and has the potential to treat a range of maladies. A legislative panel studying stem cell research got the opportunity Tuesday to put a human face on the complex subject when it heard from a diabetic man who no longer needs insulin injections after having cells from a cadaver pancreas infused into his liver.
Alex O'Meara of Richmond told the subcommittee of senators, delegates and medical professionals that the drugs he must take to prevent his liver from rejecting the new cells have some side effects, including high blood pressure and fatigue, but diabetes is much worse. "Diabetes is a leading cause of blindness and amputation," O'Meara said. "The clock was ticking on my developing some kind of complication. No way I'd go back." O'Meara's transplant surgeon, Dr. Kenneth Brayman of the University of Virginia, said the success of the 41-year-old Richmond man's treatment illustrates the potential benefit of a therapy still in its infancy.
"You're only limited by your imagination," Brayman said of the maladies that ultimately might be treated with stem cell therapy. O'Meara said he received two insulin shots a day for years. He eventually developed "hypoglycemic unawareness" -- an inability to recognize when his blood sugar level had dropped to a dangerous level -- leading to two automobile crashes.
He volunteered for testing to determine if he was a stem cell transplant candidate and underwent two procedures at U.Va. The first, in May, cut his need for insulin injections by half. A second infusion in August "basically ended my need for insulin," he said.
The 15-member subcommittee last year recommended that the General Assembly create and finance a statewide umbilical cord blood banking system to aid cancer treatment and stem cell research. The assembly passed the bill and appropriated $200,000 to jump-start the project. A team of medical experts will be convened this fall to determine how to proceed. The General Assembly also passed legislation to continue the subcommittee's work.
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And of course they love the two big confusions in the popular mind: between federal funding and the research itself, and between stem cell research in general and embryonic stem cell research in particular.
The embryos have become pawns in a partisan vendetta, and they will not forget this.
Listening to the left, you'd think that Bush wants to outlaw any stem cell research. What lies are tendered to gain political clout!
It is telling that we can easily get billions spent on totally speculative therapies, but little on therapies using off-patent antibiotics that have already demonstrated success.
The point of embryonic stem cell research and especially of government funding is the establishment of the principal that the Ruling Class has the right and duty to kill and use some humans for the benefit of other humans. It is nothing less than that and is a logical extension of der Sanger's goals.
No, not because it discredits Bush, though that is certainly a welcome side benefit. The point is the killing and use of some human beings for the benefit of others.
I agree with you and, further, think that the whole fertility industry has erred along the same lines. Creating multiple blastocytes in a petri dish and selecting only the healthiest to implant, disposing of the others or using them in research, is on the same level of horror. The Matrix was an interesting work of fiction that has become reality. Only artificial intelligence isn't to blame.
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