The Unconscionable Claims of Michael J. Fox

The American Thinker ^ | October 25th, 2006 | Mary L. Davenport, MD

[raybbr]

However, using that disease to manipulate the public into destroying more lives....

I wonder what Fox's answer would be to this: They find a cure. But, they only have enough to cure one person. Would he demand that it be him?

[lepton]

However, using that disease to manipulate the public into destroying more lives, just to save him is pretty pathetic,

It's not even limited to that. Most likely his course of action is counterproductive to that end. He could readily acknowledge the progress with adult and cord stem cells and simply advocate more funds for that...but he's not.

[no dems]

I said this on another thread, but it bears repeating.

I don't care for Dick Morris, but he said that this is going to backfire on the Dems.

[sport]

bump

[Grampa Dave]

The link below is an interesting one with interviews with Fox and Ali.

http://www.veotag.com/player/Default.aspx?pid=b48abfb4-aa12-43e5-99e2-1bf3a47fa464

[veronica]

For the record, I don't get the whole Ali thing. Never did, never will.

[Grampa Dave]

http://abortiontv.com/Misc/Embryonic_Stem_Cell%20Research_Tumors%20.htm



Embryonic Stem Cell Research Causes Tumors, New Study Shows
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 23, 2006

Rochester, NY (LifeNews.com) -- Scientists working with embryonic stem cell research on animals reconfirmed what pro-life advocates have been saying for years about it. Researcher Steven Goldman and colleagues at the University of Rochester Medical Center said injecting embryonic stem cells into the brains of patients with Parkinson's disease would cause tumors.

Goldman's research team has been injecting the controversial cells into rats that have the disease and the cells turned into tumors afterwards.

The scientists explained their findings in an article in the latest issue of Nature Medicine. They said the embryonic stem cell injections helped some of the rats but some of the cells started growing in a manner that would eventually lead to a tumor. "The behavioral data validate the utility of the approach. But it also raises a cautionary flag and says we are not ready for prime time yet," Goldman told the Washington Post.

He conceded that considerably more research would need to be done to determine whether the tumor problems could ever be overcome. Parkinson's is a disease where dopamine-releasing cells in the brain die out, which leads to muscle dysfunction and can eventually cause paralysis. The goal of stem cell research in Parkinson's is to replace the dead cells with stem cells that form into new dopamine cells. Goldman's team used human embryonic stem cells obtained by killing days-old unborn children that were grown in a special chemical used to coax them into becoming brain cells.

The team killed the rats before they could determine that the tumors that appeared to be growing actually finished appearing and they said that any embryonic stem cell treatments on humans, which has never been tried, would have to be closely monitored. Some autopsies on the rats found tumors and that the embryonic stem cells began to grow uncontrollably rather than becoming the dopamine cells as intended. Another team led by Ole Isacson, a Harvard Medical School professor of neuroscience and neurology, published similar results earlier this month in the online journal Stem Cells and found that the embryonic stem cells also produced tumors.

Adult stem cells have not had the same problems and have been used successfully to treat dozens of diseases and conditions. But scientists have said they don't think embryonic stem cell research will lead to a cure for Parkinson's. University of Melbourne Emeritus Professor of Medicine Thomas Martin told Australian lawmakers recently that he did not think that embryonic stem cell research would even lead to cures for major diseases such as diabetes or Parkinson's.

Martin, an internationally recognized Fellow of the Royal Society, said the embryonic stem cells produced from human cloning would have the same problems.

[Grampa Dave]

What don't you get about the Ali situation?

[jmcenanly]

It would appear that the Dems think that pity is an adequate criteria for choosing one party over another. I'm beginning to think that the whole party is "off their meds"

[veronica]

Why he's a hero. Why he's such a huge media figure.

[Grampa Dave]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1726267/posts

The Wrong Tree Embryonic stem cells are not all that.
http://www.nationalreview.com/ ^ | May 13, 2004, 8:58 a.m. | Wesley J. Smith


Posted on 10/26/2006 7:32:20 AM PDT by Grampa Dave


http://www.nationalreview.com/script/printpage.p?ref=/comment/smith200405130858.asp

May 13, 2004, 8:58 a.m. The Wrong Tree Embryonic stem cells are not all that.

By Wesley J. Smith

Once again the media are trumpeting the call among many in Congress, pushed by millions in Big Biotech lobbying money, for President Bush to reverse his decision to limit federal funding of embryonic-stem-cell research (ESCR) to those lines already in existence on August 9, 2001. Fronted this time by the grief-stricken Nancy Reagan, and boosted by Hollywood celebrities such as Christopher Reeve, Michael J. Fox, and Mary Tyler Moore, we are warned darkly, as a recent New York Times editorial put it, that the existing federal-funding restrictions "are so potentially damaging to medicine" that the administration is encountering opposition to its policy even among its "own conservative supporters."

We have heard this mantra many times before but repetition does not make it true. A great deal has been learned about the potential of regenerative medicine since President Bush reached his "compromise" decision ending the stem-cell debate of 2001. And indeed, perhaps the time has come for us to revisit this issue, albeit from a different angle than suggested by ESCR boosters. Perhaps the problem with the Bush plan isn't that it provides too little federal money for ESCR, but too much — at least if our national goal is to find cures to diseases such as Alzheimer's, diabetes, and Parkinson's in the shortest period of time.

The media is so excited about the supposed potential of embryonic stem cells that it gives far too little attention to the many and serious problems associated with this potential source of regenerative medicine. Listening to the hype, one might think that ESCR is on the verge of tremendous success. But the hard truth is that it does not appear likely that embryonic stem cells will soon become the panacea that fervid supporters of the research often claim. For example:

In animal studies, embryonic-stem-cell treatments have been found to cause tumors. In one mouse study involving an attempt to treat Parkinson's-type symptoms, more than 20 percent of the mice died from brain tumors — this despite researchers reducing the number of cells administered from the usual 100,000 to 1,000.

Tissue rejection is another major hurdle to the use of embryonic stem cells in medical treatments. This is why ESCR is known as the gateway to human cloning, since one proposed way out of this potential dilemma is to create cloned embryos of patients being treated as a source of stem cells, a process known as "therapeutic cloning." Not coincidentally, many of the same proponents who are now urging increased funding for ESCR also advocate that we legalize and publicly fund therapeutic-cloning research, which many find immoral because it creates cloned human life for the sole purpose of experimentation and destruction.

Besides being immoral, therapeutic cloning also looks to be wildly impractical. For example, a recent report published by the National Academy of Sciences warned that it could cost in the neighborhood of $200,000 just to pay for the human eggs to derive one cloned human embryonic-stem-cell line.

The above is an excerpt. Please go to the full thread for an excellent rebuttal to Fox and the other lying liberals:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1726267/posts

[Dr. Scarpetta]

The growth of the more primitive embryonic stem cells is more difficult to control and leads to tumor formation.

I had a conversation with my brother this morning about stem-cell research. He's a Republican but doesn't have time to follow issues closely. He didn't know that embryonic stem cells cause tumors. He also didn't know that there IS stem cell research going on. He seemed to think that Pres Bush banned it.

[pollyannaish]

This is how you refute MJF. WITH FACTS...not attacks on him personally.

VERY NICELY DONE. Very effective, right on the money.

BTTT.

[Lancey Howard]

BUMP!

[Lancey Howard]

This is how you refute MJF. WITH FACTS...not attacks on him personally.

Exactly! Attacking that little scumbag Fox personally only gives the dinosaur MSM newsrooms ammo to deflect away from rational argument about the facts.

[attiladhun2]

WHY? Its all about keeping abortion legal, isn't it?

[FourtySeven]

I just saw the ad last night. Shame on them is right. Fortunately, based on a small sample group of people I know at my church, at least some Democrat voting Catholics won't fall for this. They know the difference.

I just hope it shows the larger ignorance/maliciousness of the party to them.

[pollyannaish]

The goal of the dems is to solidify the old-world portrayal of the GOP as a White man, redneck gun-toting, anti-woman, racist angry party of the rick...and they're MEAN SOBs.

We have made some serious inroads into changing that perception with the general public by being calm and effective. We are the party of anyone who believes in the values of this country as expressed by our Forefathers.

There is no sense in giving them fodder to reframe the debate. Attack on the facts, which are easy and solid...and don't let MJF or the dems steal the debate from us by misplaying our hand. THEY ARE BLUFFING and we know it. We must play smart.

[Logical me]

I E-Mailed Bill O'Riley and suggested he get the facts before he runs with a story based on MSM rumor.

Good for you. The big O is usually a day or two behind and his closed mind will never find the truth. He is an egotistical nut with most of his reporting. And I'm surprised with the so called staff he has that they are so misinformed.

[Marysecretary]

I guess.