Posted on 03/09/2009 8:13:26 AM PDT by Selkirk
Here it comes again. Stem cells. We hear about them a lot, and if the hype is to be believed, stem cells will be the reason why cancer and the common cold are finally cured.
President Obama has signaled his intention to reverse the Bush Administration policy against federal funding of any institution that engages in embryonic stem cell research. No real surprise there, as he indicated during his campaign that he would do precisely that. Again to no surprise, the media, led by WaPo, is eating it up. As the media and other left leaning "intellectuals" like to frame the issue, stem cell research is about divorcing science from politics:
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.politicalcastaway.com ...
Embryonic stem cells have not cured or successfully treated a single patient. Contrast that with the more than 70 conditions that are treatable using non-embryonic stem cell therapies.
Note: Conditions treatable using non-embryonic stem cells are listed in this article.
Adult Stem Cells: It's Not Pie-in-the-Sky
Though embryonic stem cell research advocates euphemistically refer to the current state of research as an “early stage”, the unfortunate reality is the goal of embryonic stem cell therapies is, at this point, more accurately described as a pipe dream. No researcher is anywhere close to significant progress in developing practical embryonic stem cell therapies.
The only thing certain is that the cost of that research will be high. If embryonic stem cell research had real and imminent possibilities, private investors would be pouring capital into research hoping for real and imminent profits. Instead, venture capital firms are contributing to political efforts to get taxpayers to fund research. What the venture capitalists seem to be hoping for is that taxpayer funding of stem cell research will increase the value of their stakes in biotech companies. The venture capitalists can then cash out at a hefty profit, leaving taxpayers holding the bag of fruitless research.
Ron Reagan Wrong on Stem Cells
"Using embryonic stem cells, researchers at Stanford University who are working on a cure for Type I diabetes are producing new pancreatic islet cells that could be used in human transplants and could herald a cure for this devastating illness."
Actually, the latest research findings regarding embryonic stem cells are that they do not actually produce insulin in response to glucose changes in their environment and are NOT the pancreatic beta cells needed to treat diabetes. When placed in animals, the cells did not reverse diabetes; instead, they formed tumors.
"A Korean research team recently made history by using human embryonic stem cells to cure Parkinson's disease in rats."
That is what they claim, but the research is a long way from producing a safe and effective treatment for humans. On the one known occasion when earlier-stage (before 6 weeks) fetal tissue was used to try to treat a human Parkinson's patient, the tissue killed the patient by forming clumps of bone, skin and hair in the middle of his brain.
Moreover, animal trials with embryonic stem cells repeatedly kill many of the animals because of formation of brain tumors.
Meanwhile, the first clinical trial using a patient's own adult brain stem cells to treat Parkinson's has produced a lasting 80% reversal of symptoms, and wider human trials are being planned.
A more recent article…Why Embrionic Stem Cells are Obsolete, shows nothing has changed:
A report from Israel published in PLoS Medicine in late February that shows embryonic stem cells injected into patients can cause disabling if not deadly tumors.
The report describes a young boy with a fatal neuromuscular disease called ataxia telangiectasia, who was treated with embryonic stem cells. Within four years, he developed headaches and was found to have multiple tumors in his brain and spinal cord that genetically matched the female embryos used in his therapy.His experience is neither an anomaly nor a surprise, but one feared by many scientists.
Even as the future of embryonic stem cells has dimmed, adult stem cell research has scored major wins evident just in the past few months. These advances involve human stem cells that are not derived from human embryos. In fact, adult stem cells, which occur in small quantities in organs throughout the body for natural growth and repair, have become stars despite great skepticism early on. Though this is a more difficult task, scientists have learned to coax them to mature into many cell types, like brain and heart cells, in the laboratory.
The more ethically charged decision—less understood by the public and one Congress has avoided—involves the ban on creating human embryos in the laboratory solely for research purposes.
What more can I add?
Just heard the first, ABC radio news during Rush. "Thank you President Obama, because of you I know I will one day get out of this wheelchair." Hurl. So predictable.
Yeah, Kerry and Edwards said if they were elected that Chris Reeve would get out of his wheelchair. There’s something delusional about people voting Rat. Many of them REALLY believe these guys have magical powers.
“Put your hand on the radio...”
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