Posted on 07/06/2006 7:12:39 PM PDT by Coleus
For the past few years many of the world's leading scientists have promoted so-called therapeutic cloning as the most promising way to produce clinically useful, genetically tailored, biologically versatile stem cells. That is why claims by a team of South Korean researchers -- one in 2004 that the first cloned human embryo had been produced, then another in 2005 that the process of producing embryonic stem cell lines from cloned embryos could be done routinely and efficiently -- were hailed as a watershed.
Hwang Woo Suk, the lead researcher, became an international celebrity. The best American scientists traveled to Seoul to observe his laboratory and study his techniques. Hwang called his work "holy, pure and genuine."
But then the world discovered that it was all a scandalous fraud. Last November, we learned that Hwang had used eggs procured from junior researchers in his own lab -- a violation of the Helsinki Declaration that governs medical research -- and then lied to cover it up. His partner, Roh Sung Il, paid "volunteers" for additional eggs and forced them to lie about it on their consent forms. Then, in a succession of astonishing revelations, it became clear that the published data had been fabricated. Apparently no cloned human embryos were ever produced; no embryonic stem cells were ever created.
Of course, some dismiss the South Korean fraud as the work of a few bad scientific apples and even cite such errant behavior as a reason for American researchers to create and destroy cloned embryos for themselves. Harvard University recently approved research cloning, and some states have set aside public money for such experiments. The scientific argument, made with great hype, remains the same: If you want useful stem cells, you need to create and destroy cloned human embryos.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
If you want useful stem cells, you need to get them from something other than human embryos. The embryonic stem cells are useless.
bump & a ping
there's good news -- but the kind hearted elitists-in-favor-of-embryo-destruction warn us not to get our hopes up that they'll quit creating and killing embryos:
http://www.lifeethics.org/www.lifeethics.org/2006/07/truly-ethical-adult-to-embryonic-stem.html
"Stem-Cell Passage Expected"
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Stem_Cell_Passage_Expected_999.html
The point is made in this excellent article that the greatest hope for stem cell cures is to learn how to take one's own stem cells and back them up to pluripotency. Our bodies are teaming with MAPCs (multipotent adult progenitor cells), stem cells waiting for directions to differentiate into tissue lines. Back in 2000, in essays I wrote for FR discussion, I offered that the best hope for stem cell research was to find out how to back up our own cells to the pluripotent stem cell age/stage then bring the cells forward to differentiate inot the needed tissue lines. At least now the Washington Post is sharing this notion with the general populace. One can only hope and pray the effort is not too late, what with the supposed conservative legislators now supporting cannibalism.
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