Posted on 10/28/2006 6:59:07 PM PDT by wagglebee
Stem cell research is one of the major issues in many campaigns across the country in this election year, and it is being demagogued like few others.
In the interest of truth in politics it's worth noting that there are two kinds of stem cells research – one involving embryonic stem cells (ESC) and the other using adult or cord-blood stem cells.
The overwhelming number of candidates, Republican and Democratic, favor research on stem cells gathered from adult and core-blood sources. But many, mostly Republicans, oppose ESC research because harvesting the cells requires killing a living human embryo, and in many cases result from cloning human embryos for the sole purpose of harvesting the stem cells from the embryos killed in the process.
All across the country, Democrats and their lackeys in the media distort the issue by portraying those opposed to embryonic stem cell research as being opposed to all stem cell research, refusing to draw the crucial distinction between the two types.
In addition to this dishonest tactic, proponents of ESC research inevitably claim that it is the form of research holding out the most promise as an effective means of curing a host of serious physical and mental disorders, while either ignoring or downplaying the incredible results now demonstrated in adult and core-blood stem cell research.
Moreover, a great falsehood been spread that President Bush and fellow Republicans opposed to embryonic stem cell research have attempted to ban it outright, when the truth is that all they have done is to seek to deny it government funding. Those who want to pursue it are free to find other sources of revenue, which - if the promises made on its behalf were credible - would be readily available from sources such as drug companies.
Such funding is not forthcoming, and for very good reasons.
Think about it this way: there are about 70 to 80 million baby boomers right now on the cusp of reaching the age where they will be susceptible to Alzheimer's disease.
With that many people just in the U.S. facing the threat of falling prey to Alzheimer's disease, wouldn't you think that if there were an answer to the problem - as the use of embryonic stem cells has been widely touted to be by its proponents - that the drug companies would be falling all over themselves to throw money at those wanting to do ESC research and come up with cures that would make them hundreds of billions in profits?
The fact that the drug companies have turned their back on ESC research should tell you something. One reason is that there is absolutely no basis for the claims that ESC holds a promise to cure all sorts of ailments from Alzheimer's to Parkinson's, or even spinal cord injuries. It's all smoke and mirrors and most of it is based on a single source -- the thoroughly discredited claims of South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk, who has been convicted of falsifying his research data.
One damning result of the ESC research that has been done is the fact that when the cells are injected into lab animals many grow brain tumors – some malignant and fatal. Thus far, that is the sole fruit of ESC research – fatal brain tumors. Drug companies aren't interested in funding that kind of outcome. There's no money in producing brain tumors.
In contrast to the dismal results of ESC, research on adult and cord-blood stem cells has produced real results, helping to cure such maladies as sickle cell anemia, lymphoma and juvenile leukemia. As a result funding is no problem here.
Claims that the president and his party are opposed to stem cell research fall flat on their back when you recall that last year Congress overwhelmingly passed - and the president signed - a bill funding the saving and storage of therapeutic core-blood stem cells and providing $150 million to fund storage of the cells.
That's the truth of the matter.
Embryonic stem cell research has ALWAYS been about one thing and one thing only and that is PROTECTING THE RIGHT TO ABORTION.
Stem Cell/Pro-Life Ping.
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Research facilities that desire money from the government that they can't get from the private sector.
Truth is that this precedure is light years away from yielding a successful treatment for any life threatening disease.
I wish he had addressed how ashamed his father would have been about the pathetic ballerina boy whining about this at the 2004 'Rat convention.
"Drug companies aren't interested in funding that kind of outcome. There's no money in producing brain tumors.
Embryonic stem cell research has ALWAYS been about one thing and one thing only and that is PROTECTING THE RIGHT TO ABORTION."
UH ... Don't think there is a lot of money for the drug companies in "protecting the right to abortion" either ...
And in the meantime, successes of adult/umbilical cord stem cells keep piling up.
And the reason that biotech and drug companies aren't investing in ESC research is because they know it will NEVER PAY OFF.
I support Michael Reagan and his indirect defense of Rush Limbaugh.
He really turned me off though in the late 90's when I used to listen to his show by calling "Limbaugh's nothing more than a Tie Salesman".
Those ties were ugly, but that petty manuver did not sit well with me. At the time, Rush was challenging my positions and as a result opening my eyes way more than Reagan could ever could.
"And the reason that biotech and drug companies aren't investing in ESC research is because they know it will NEVER PAY OFF."
Then you really don't have much to worry about, do you ?
BTW - Did you know that Israeli human embryonic stem cell research is 2nd in world ?
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1159193379030&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
They never were good businessmen, were they ?
Ping~
"Morning after pill" as one product produced by the "drug" companies. They have other products used to prevent pregnancy as well. So, the drug companies do have a stake in the pro-abortion issue.
Please FreepMail me if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.
My in-laws just told me they still didn't know how they were going to vote on Amendment 2 here in Missouri. It was all I could do to keep my jaw off the floor. I tried to calmly give them a little background info without causing trouble. I don't know how my husband came from these two. I still think he was adopted. :o)
Special interest groups are the prostitutes of our society - when are we going to shut them down and cut off their business for good?
I agree. I'll do my small part by voting no on Amendment 2 in MO. Best I can do right now!
Demagoguing the issue of ESC research obviously has proved
positively irresistible to the Dems: it seems to offer so many things all at the same time: a justificiation to continue full-throttle abortion, ( we need those embryos,folks), another opportunity to paint those opposed to it as (yes, once again) uncaring, selfish, and socially regressive, another opportunity to set up a politically-defined enclave with multiple-millions flowing into an entire pseudo-medical structure of professionals and even more unskilled associates, all of whom owe jobs and allegiance to those wonderful Democrats who funded their entirely fruitless enterprise. As always with the Dems, their is an attempt to link these things together, so it is never going to be clear whether they're even interested or willing to defend ESC on its own terms: it may just be a sub-issue put in the service of abortion rights....who knows? All I know is there seems to be a particularly desperate attempt underway to spot-weld a bunch of things together, hoping they all rise as one huge hotair balloon
with a giant "D" painted on it, rather than crash to earth , all weakened and discredited together, each "cause" a little the worse for wear. One thing is sure, when they are challenged to actually address the real details of the issue and their exploitation of it, they swerve and all they can talk about is how awful Rush Limbaugh's "mockery" of Michael J. Fox was.
BTT
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