Posted on 10/30/2005 3:50:31 PM PST by Coleus
New Brunswick, NJ (LifeNews.com) -- A leading researcher on stem cell research told attendees of a pro-life banquet at Rutgers University that the use of adult stem cell research is significantly more effective than using embryonic stem cells.Dr. David Prentice, founding member of Do No Harm: The Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics, told the audience:
"We keep hearing about the promise of embryonic stem cells, but the claims are simply unsubstantiated,” he said.
“At this point in time there is little evidence of the effectiveness of embryonic stem cells. Proponents have yet to take even one dish of embryonic stem cells and have these cells change into one specific cell, i.e., a heart cell or brain cell. Based on experiments to date, it's not safe to even try and apply them to patients."
“The bottom line,” continued Dr. Prentice, “is that our real promise lies not in the use of embryonic stem cells but with adult stem cells. Adult stem cells are today already at work in patients. I can document, through published scientific papers, with over 65 human diseases, where patients are better already, having been effectively treated through adult stem cells.”
“Some scientists admit there are ethical concerns in the use of embryonic stem cells,” Dr. Prentice said. “But, these same scientists continue to ignore the success in patients and the use of adult stem cells. The debate is ongoing. We face a lot of challenges, but the key question remains, ‘What does it mean to be human, and what kind of values do we give to any human life, whether it be a little embryo, a fetus in the womb, a newborn or someone at the other end of their life with advanced Alzheimer’s?’
“We must value every human life,” he added. “We need to push ethical science. We have an ethical problem in one sense, to make sure that everyone knows the real facts about the stem cell debate. The ethical question is that you have to kill a human embryo, a young human life, in order to obtain an embryonic stem cell. What we are dealing with is a human being at its earliest stage of life. We need to make sure we know the full facts and get out and talk about them with our friends, family and people at work. We have to write letters to the editor and to our legislators.”
The comments originally appeared in the Catholic Spirit newspaper.
My friend received stem cells from his brother. It's a complicated process but it worked. The gentlemen was on his deathbed. After the stem cell implant, he waivered for a while and then all of a sudden, his numbers started to get better. He's now quite healthy. He smiles and says proudly "I have my DNA AND my brothers."
Doesn't matter: adult stem cells do nothing to create a market for aborted babies, so the abortion industry doesn't care.
Kill kill kill.
Put this out there for ABCNNBCBS to broadcast!
Don't forget another bonus: If we can harvest our own stem cells from our own bodies to treat diseas or replace damaged tissue we will never have to deal with the potential for rejection.
That's like saying Nuclear Fission works for nuclear power, so there's no need to invest in research on Nuclear Fusion.
BTTT!
Im guessing your opposition is really on ethical grounds, and the rest is just additional justification. Ie even if embryonic stem cells were clearly superior to adult stem cells you would still oppose using them.
Based on Science
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22embryonic+stem+cells%22+%22teratomas%22
so guess again.
and yes, I am against the destruction of human life and harvesting babies for body parts. Embryonic stem cells are no where superior to adult stem cells. My church forbids ESCR.
I'll be tuning into the "Today Show" first thing tomorrow to see how Katie covers this one!!
Embroyonic stem cell research goes beyond potential medical cures. It also helps understanding of early embryonic development. Just a few days ago there was an advance:
Scientists discover stem cell trigger http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1849403,00.html
Earlier I compared this to the difference between fission and fusion nuclear power. All nuclear power plants ever made have been based on nuclear fission. Nuclear fusion power plants are more tricky and have been in research for decades. No application of a nuclear fusion power plant has ever been produced. So you could argue:
Nuclear Fission 250 - Nuclear Fusion 0
But does this make nuclear fission superior? No. It just means nuclear fusion is research in progress, just as embryonic stem cells are.
Vatican speaks out against creation of stem cells
Embryonic Stem Cell Research Has Failed to Produce Any Cures or Treatments
After nearly a decade of research on human embryonic stems cells, 25 years of research on animal embryonic stem cells, and over $500 million in federal funding, embryonic stem cell research has yet to deliver any cures or treatments. After 25 years of research, there are zero human clinical trials or proven therapies using embryonic stem cells.
Ethical Alternatives to Embryonic Stem Cells Exist
Embryos are not the only source of stem cells. Every one holds an unknown amount of stem cells that can be derived without harm or injury. These “adult” stem cells are capable of transforming into countless cell and tissues types have been located throughout the human body, including in the brain, muscles, blood, placentas and even in fat. Recently germ? line stem cells from testes have been successfully reprogrammed into “pluripotent” adult stem cells with the same potential of embryonic stem cells.
Stem Cells from Ethical Sources Are Now Treating Over 70 Diseases and Afflictions
Every useful stem-cell therapy developed to date has not required the destruction of human embryos. According to a June 2004 report prepared by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), adult stem cells and stem cells from cord blood are currently being utilized to treat 72 diseases and the NIH is funding another 330 human clinical trials using these cells. Adult stem cell research has revealed potential treatment and cures for afflictions such as Buerger’s disease, bladder disease, lupus, heart failure, stroke, liver failure, nerve regeneration, genetic metabolic disease, and respiratory conditions such as emphysema and pulmonary fibrosis. Other studies have shown that adult stem cells hold great potential to treat Parkinson's and diabetes. When asked at a June 2006 Senate hearing about the best avenues of research that could be pursued, Dr. James Battey, the director of the NIH Stem Cell Task Force responded, “to me, the very most interesting thing is… this frontier area of nuclear reprogramming, where you take a mature adult cell type and you effectively de-differentiate it back to the a pluripotent state.”
Ethical Alternatives Should Be Pursued Rather Than Seeking to Save Life By Destroying Life
We all desperately want to find cures for the diseases that afflict our friends, families and neighbors. Yet in our quest to find these cures, we must not ignore or rationalize the tremendous moral questions posed by destroying living embryos, which is undeniably human life in its earliest stages. We are fortunate that ethical alternatives to destructive embryonic stem cell research exist and it is imperative that we first pursue these ethical alternatives before even considering investing in research that requires destroying life to save life.
Embryonic Stem Cell Research Diverts Funding Away From More Promising Research
Over the past five years, Congress has increased funding for ESCR every year and increased annual funding almost four-fold, despite zero results. This bill seeks to increase federal ESCR funding even more, despite the lack of results and the existence of ethical alternatives that has a multitude of proven results and offers countless benefits from future research. Every dollar spent on research that does not yield results is one less dollar that could have been invested in research on ethical alternatives that are already yielding cures. Again, 25 years of embryonic stem cell research has produced zero cures.
Embryonic Stem Cells Have Dangerous Side Effects That May Require Other Unethical Practices to Remedy
In experiment after experiment, embryonic stem cells have demonstrated that they may be too taratogenic for therapeutic purposes. It is not uncommon in experiments on mammals for the animals to be killed by tumors. Uncontrollable growth of cells is one of the main reasons embryonic stem cells can not be tested in human subjects. As a consequence, cloning embryos and then destroying them to extract their stem cells or allowing embryos to develop into fetuses so that their organs can be cultivated may be the next step, but both techniques pose additional scientific, moral and ethical dilemmas.
Adult Stem Cells Have Consistently Outperformed Embryonic Stem Cells for Therapeutic Purposes
Virtually every breakthrough announced using embryonic stem cells in animal models has been preceded by a similar feat with often greater results using adult stem cells.
Very Few “Surplus” Embryos Are Available for Research
Proponents of destructive embryonic stem cell research claim that surplus embryos “are going to be discarded anyway.” A RAND study has found that to the contrary, very few embryos are expected to be discarded. The vast majority—88.2% are designated for family building and another 2.3% are being donated to other families for adoption. According to the RAND study, embryos available for research do not have high development potential and very embryonic stem cell lines could be created from the embryos available for research. This means that embryos would have to be created specifically for destruction is additional stem cell lines were to be created for research.
Patients Need Cures Not False Hopes
Leading proponents of research on embryonic stem cells are themselves lowering expectations that dramatic cures to diseases such as Alzheimer’s. The Guardian newspaper recently reported that Lord Winston, the most prominent embryonic-stem-cell researcher in the United Kingdom, said that hopes for cures had been distorted by arrogance and spin. “I view the current wave of optimism about embryonic stem cells with growing suspicion,” Winston told the British Association for the Advancement of Science. A leading embryonic stem cell researcher in South Korea who hailed some of the most promising advances in the field has admitted to falsifying his research. Exaggerated predications and expectations used to promote embryonic stem cell research exploit patients and families desperately seeking cures.
Nuclear Fusion Reactors Have Never Been Used To Power Cities And No Plans Exist To Do So.
Nuclear Fusion Research Has Failed To Produce Any Commercially Operating Nuclear Fusion Reactors
After decades of research on nuclear fusion reactors, and millions of dollars in federal funding, nuclear fusion research has yet to deliver any commercially operating working nuclear reactors. After decades of research, there are zero nuclear power plants operating on fusion.
Nuclear Fission Power (not fusion) Is Now Powering Hundreds Of Cities Worldwide.
Nuclear Fusion Research Diverts Funding Away From More Promising Research
Nuclear Fusion Reactors Have Dangerous Side Effects
Customers Need Power Not False Hope
THE SCORE HAS CHANGED
Fission Nuclear Power Plants: 400
Fusion Nuclear Power Plants: 0
End the ludicrous research of nuclear fusion reactors today! Why research all potential lines of benefit!
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