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To: Area Freeper

stem cell research is a major issue in people minds


2 posted on 07/28/2004 5:43:28 AM PDT by JohnthePatriot
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To: JohnthePatriot
stem cell research is a major issue in people minds

Maybe in some people's minds, but not most.

9 posted on 07/28/2004 5:49:15 AM PDT by tbpiper (Michael Moore…..the Erich von Däniken of political documentary)
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To: JohnthePatriot
stem cell research is a major issue in people minds

Boloney. If the private sector wants to do stem cell research, they can...just not with federal monies. If it's so promising, why aren't they doing it? A cure for any disease is worth untold gazillions.

Or, is this like the fetal tissue research claims from 10 years ago...THAT went no where fast with no breakthroughs.

11 posted on 07/28/2004 5:49:49 AM PDT by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I shall defend to your death my right to say it)
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To: JohnthePatriot

stem cell research is a major issue in people minds.......

It's the last thing on my mind except that I don't like it. It's ghoulish.


30 posted on 07/28/2004 6:05:40 AM PDT by dennisw (Once is Happenstance. Twice is Coincidence. The third time is Enemy action. - Ian Fleming)
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To: JohnthePatriot
stem cell research is a major issue in people minds

Then they need educate themselves on the issue and not listen to Ron Reagan's foolishness...

Origins of the Current Policy

In accordance with the "Dickey Amendment," passed each year since 1995, research involving the destruction of human embryos cannot be funded with taxpayer dollars. This is not Bush's policy; it is the law of the land, passed annually by Congress and signed by both Presidents Clinton and Bush. This law does not ban embryo research, and it does not fund embryo research. It is a policy of public silence.

In 2000, the Clinton administration discovered a loophole that would allow the NIH to provide some federal funding for embryonic-stem-cell research without asking Congress to overturn the Dickey amendment. By law, the government could not fund research "in which" embryos were destroyed. But if the destruction itself were funded privately, the government could offer funds for subsequent research on embryonic-stem-cell lines derived from the destroyed embryos. In other words: A researcher could destroy endless numbers of embryos in his private lab, and then use the fruits of such destruction to get public funding. This would not violate the letter of the law, but surely the spirit.

When he took office in 2001, President Bush put implementation of the Clinton guidelines on hold. He wanted a way to support potentially promising research, but he also did not believe the federal government should create an ongoing incentive for the destruction of human embryos. On August 9, 2001, President Bush announced his new guidelines: federal funding for research using stem-cell lines that existed before the announcement, but not for those created after. In this way, federal money would not act as an incentive for destroying human embryos in the future, but stem cells derived from embryos already destroyed in the past could be used with federal money to explore the basic science.

This was the fundamental bargain of the policy: no limits on embryonic-stem-cell research in the private sector (unlike much of the world, which regulates this practice), but no public subsidies to encourage a limitless industry of embryo destruction.

At a May 11 hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Aging, for example, Johns Hopkins Alzheimer's Disease expert Peter Rabins and Washington University Alzheimer's researcher John Morris both told the senators that they do not expect embryonic stem cells to play a role in Alzheimer's treatment. Experts on other diseases speak with similar restraint. In the end, the research may bear therapeutic fruit and it may not — we cannot know in advance. It may cure some diseases and not others. But by seeming to promise medical salvation without limits, stem-cell advocates risk blurring the difficult ethical questions that surround this new science.

Inflated Promise, Distorted Facts

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

"Embryonic stem cells are not going to be the source of a cure for Alzheimer's," Dobson told the capacity crowd. "Are you aware that not one human being anywhere in the world is being treated with embryonic stem cells? There is not a single clinical trial going on anywhere in the world, because (embryonic) stem cells in laboratory animals ... create tumors. Nobody will use them."

By comparison, adult stem cells have shown great promise in the treatment of diseases such as diabetes, Dobson explained. And they do not require the destruction of embryonic human life, since they can be harvested from such sources as umbilical cord blood and bone marrow.

Dr. Dobson: Media Hiding Truth on Stem Cells

35 posted on 07/28/2004 6:12:32 AM PDT by ravingnutter
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To: JohnthePatriot
stem cell research is a major issue in people minds

No, it's not.

39 posted on 07/28/2004 6:16:39 AM PDT by alnick
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To: JohnthePatriot
stem cell research is a major issue in people minds

It is?

43 posted on 07/28/2004 6:21:21 AM PDT by gilliam
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To: JohnthePatriot
stem cell research is a major issue in people minds

No it's not.

And, nobody heard Ron Reagan.

Nobody cares about this issue, and nobody cares what Ronald Reagan's family thinks.

52 posted on 07/28/2004 6:38:34 AM PDT by sinkspur (There's no problem on the inside of a kid that the outside of a dog can't cure.)
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To: JohnthePatriot
"stem cell research is a major issue in people minds"

Well, in a close circle of mine, it is. A dear friend of ours has ALS (Lou Gherig's Disease) - his network of ALS patients, their families, researchers and doctors speak of stem cell research as if it is the holy grail in treatment of this disease (as well as others.) I understand that they desperately need a cure for this Most Horrible Disease on the Planet (I watch my friend dwindle a little bit each day. . .I see his friends do the same, I hear of a new horrible death each day from this) and there is great hostility towards the current administration putting restrictions on it.

I agree that if there was such huge promise, private companies would be taking it to task themselves.

Through "osmosis" I am exposed to this network of my friend's and these people are not happy with Bush at all regarding this issue. Some info on this thread has been enlightening for me regarding the use of adult vs. embryonic stem cells, what's worked, what hasn't, and the post that outlines the actual law surrounding it.

Interestingly, there is talk on the street that Michael J. Fox has been traveling to China for treatments for his Parkinson's Disease...if you've noticed, he is making a tremendous recovery.

54 posted on 07/28/2004 6:50:13 AM PDT by Dasaji (Uhhh,...Pat? Can I please buy a vowel?)
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To: JohnthePatriot
Send in Mike Reagan. He'll whip 'em up!!! And, oh yeah - pass this on along the Web. :0)
71 posted on 07/28/2004 7:24:24 AM PDT by Al Simmons (GWB: Keeping the USA #1 in her Third Century!!!)
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To: JohnthePatriot

I've never heard Nancy Reagan express an opinion regarding politics. Yes, she was devoted to her husband. In an interview several years ago someone mentioned her devotion and she said something to the effect that it was the least she could do because he gave her a life better than she ever imagined. So, if true, it was really all about her. People assume that she has the same political leanings that her husband did, but I can't understand why. She was along for the ride, the glamor, the parties, etc. Not much substance there that I ever saw. My opinion...


73 posted on 07/28/2004 7:24:53 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam
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To: JohnthePatriot

It's been on your mind since you signed up four days ago, hasn't it???


111 posted on 07/28/2004 9:18:44 AM PDT by Hildy ( If you don't stand up for what's RIGHT, you'll settle for what's LEFT.)
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To: JohnthePatriot
stem cell research is not the issue, that continues and adult stem cells have proved to be very valuable.

The media is framing this debate as one regarding stem cell research, when it is much more narrowly focused on fetal stem cell research.
132 posted on 07/28/2004 4:43:17 PM PDT by CyberCowboy777 (Veritas vos liberabit)
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