So I dug a little deeper. First, I found the abstract for the study mentioned by the LA Times. The paper mentions that they transplanted “human central nervous system stem cells (HuCNS-SCs)” into the frontal lobe white matter of these boys.Posted on 10/14/2012 2:48:20 PM PDT by NYer
The LA Times recently reported on the first successful neural stem cell transplant. Four boys have had neural stem cells injected into their brains in a trial to treat the rare genetic disorder Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease. The study is being conducted at University California San Francisco and the results published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Or course the LA Times does not mention where these neural stem cells came from. Anytime I see “neural stem cell” I get suspicious that they have been derived from human fetal brain tissue, in other words the brains of aborted fetuses.
So I dug a little deeper. First, I found the abstract for the study mentioned by the LA Times. The paper mentions that they transplanted “human central nervous system stem cells (HuCNS-SCs)” into the frontal lobe white matter of these boys.
But what are HuCNS-SCs? They are proprietary stem cells developed and provided by StemCells Inc., a California company. StemCells Inc., on a web page listing publications about their HuCNS-SC product, has a link to a paper that clearly states that HuCNS-SCs were isolated from “fresh human fetal brain tissue.” (Uchida N, et al., Direct Isolation of Human Neural Stem Cell from Fetal Brain by Cell Sorting. PNAS, December 2000.)
The other paper on HuCNS-SCs cited by StemCell Inc.’s states that their “Human fetal brains (FBr) were obtained from Advance Bioscience Resources, in accordance with all state and federal guidelines.” (Tamaki S, et al., Engraftment of Sorted/Expanded Human CNS Stem Cells from Fetal Brain Engraftment of Sorted/Expanded Human CNS Stem Cells from Fetal Brain. Journal of Neuroscience Research, August 2002.)
In an 2001 expose of the use of tissue from 20 week-old aborted fetuses in government-funded research, WorldNetDaily, revealed correspondence with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) where the NIH admitted, ““Abortions are coordinated through the Anatomic Gift Foundation and Advanced Bioscience Resources, suppliers of fetal tissue, the method of abortion is not known to the investigator.”
So I am pretty sure StemCells Inc. gets it “fresh human fetal brain tissue” from elective abortion. And I have to wonder if they are continually procuring aborted babies from Advance Bioscience Resources.
And StemCells Inc. tout that they have plans to use their “HuCNS-SC product candidate” to treat spinal cord injury, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), Alzheimer’s disease and stroke.
I also wonder if the parents of these boys were informed where the neural stem cells that were implanted into their child’s brain came from. I hope they were. If they were not, they should have been.
With StemCells Inc.’s future plans to use their HuCNS-SCs for other more common diseases, and with other companies like ReNeuron and NeuralStem continuing to use aborted fetal tissue for their research, legislation that requires disclosure when a product is derived from or developed with aborted fetal tissue is long over due.
Children of God for Life already has proposed legislation that would do just that. It is called the The Fair Labeling and Informed Consent Act. It would, among other things:
“require the manufacturers and distributors to provide information if the development or manufacture of their product uses aborted fetal material in any form including but not limited to cells, cell lines, tissues, DNA, recombinant DNA, monoclonal antibodies, blood, proteins or components thereof, in manufacturing or development.”
It would also help if the media did a bit more digging and found out exactly where companies are getting their “raw materials” instead of just stopping at the feel good story. Without the proper knowledge the public cannot object to the use of the bodies of the innocent whose lives have been cut short and ask for researchers and companies to use alternatives.
A fetus is now considered no more than just tissue and therefore researchers and research companies may not feel they need to inform patients about where their product originated: from elective abortion. This is an inconvenient fact that would matter greatly to a great many people. If we were informed.
Ping!
Aren’t there laws against this sort of thing?
God help us.
It literally destroys the embryonic stem cell research.
God help us to do something about it.
naw, it’s quite on-topic. what will happen here is what always happens ~ the boy’s own immune systems will reject the foreign cells one way or the other. Then the boys will die sooner than expected. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelizaeus–Merzbacher_disease Besides the crime of abortion we have this additional crime of performing more quack medical experiments on children.
I believe I recall reading that some country permitted embryonic cells to be implanted into the head of someone suffering from brain cancer. The cells turned into tumors, killing him
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012
Sir John B. Gurdon, Shinya Yamanaka
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012Summary
Prize Announcement
Press Release
Advanced Information
Greetings
Sir John B. GurdonBiographical
Interview
Photo Gallery
Other Resources
Shinya YamanakaBiographical
Interview
Photo Gallery
Other Resources
English
Swedish
Press Release
2012-10-08
The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has today decided to award
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012
jointly to
John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka
for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed
to become pluripotent
Summary
The Nobel Prize recognizes two scientists who discovered that mature, specialised cells can be reprogrammed to become immature cells capable of developing into all tissues of the body. Their findings have revolutionised our understanding of how cells and organisms develop.
John B. Gurdon discovered in 1962 that the specialisation of cells is reversible. In a classic experiment, he replaced the immature cell nucleus in an egg cell of a frog with the nucleus from a mature intestinal cell. This modified egg cell developed into a normal tadpole. The DNA of the mature cell still had all the information needed to develop all cells in the frog.
Shinya Yamanaka discovered more than 40 years later, in 2006, how intact mature cells in mice could be reprogrammed to become immature stem cells. Surprisingly, by introducing only a few genes, he could reprogram mature cells to become pluripotent stem cells, i.e. immature cells that are able to develop into all types of cells in the body.
These groundbreaking discoveries have completely changed our view of the development and cellular specialisation. We now understand that the mature cell does not have to be confined forever to its specialised state. Textbooks have been rewritten and new research fields have been established. By reprogramming human cells, scientists have created new opportunities to study diseases and develop methods for diagnosis and therapy.
I guess it depends what you mean by “first successful neural stem cell transplant.” Since the trial is only just beginning, “successful” cannot mean that it has cured the diseases mentioned.
Evidently it just means that the boys haven’t died—yet.
Yes ... the United States. Stem Cells Used to Fight Woman's Brain Tumor.
I don't recall the outcome; do you?
Not as cool as whatever obama did to 'earn' his prize, but I am astounded by their research. God did some amazing work creating us humans.
Hats off to those who "discover" and show us the intricate details, while changing our lives for the better along the way!
Took me a few articles: http://www.blubberblog.org/files/b2ae46460137487eb8b821a5b89004ee-217.html
She passed away shortly afterwards.
No, why should there be?
This is a desperate way of trying to legitimize aborted fetus stem cell usage.
My guess is that someone, somewhere, somehow, will find that adult stem cells, gleaned and cultured, will do the job just as well and maybe even better.
Gleaning useful stem cells from fresh placenta? Trust me, someone is on it right now.
Just like mass murderers, I just can’t get inside the mind of an abortionist.
Do a keyword search of mRNA induced pluripotent stem cells. We`re THAT close but the ghouls still want their justification. Any good transplant researcher will tell you that autogenic beats allogenic, hands down! Wonder if the immunological separation of the CNS will prevent these boys from needing a lifetime of anti-rejection therapy?
Do some research on the mRNA method of adult re-programing. Some people are already working on 3D biodegradable, extracellular matrix tech for really complex structures, only with fetal or allogenic cells (from a member of your owns species) as apposed to autogenic or autologous (from the actual individual organism).With autologous there will be NO rejection worries, your body sees it as your own tissue cause it IS.
http://stemgent.com/campaigns/mrna try this for starters.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.