FDA OKs 1st Embryonic Stem Cell Trial
Might improve function in paralyzed patients, experts say
Reader Comments
don't jump and down just yet
You make it sound this is really working --
It has never worked in the past ---
why should it work this time --
In just about all cases the ESC grow out
of control --- you might end up with a ear
or a liver on your spinal cord ---
Not to mention the fact the patient will
have to take anti rejection drugs for life-
to the tune of 150,000.00 a year ---
Overlooked Sources of accessible Adult Stem Cells
There is another source of stem cells that gets overlooked on a daily basis. These powerful stem cells are found in healthy developing wisdom teeth. The immature stem cells recovered from extracted wisdom teeth have markers similar to what is found on plurpotential embryonic stem cells. As an oral surgeon and the president of StemSave, Inc, I recommend that individuals are made aware of this valuable source of stem cells. Over 10 million wisdom teeth are removed and discarded as medical waste yearly. If the stem cells within these wisdom teeth were made available to researchers we would have an unlimited resource of stem cells that do not have the moral or ethical issues associated with them when compared to embryonic stem cells. Yes, the stem cells from wisdom teeth are considered adult stem cells and cannot form into all 220 different types of cells that embryonic stem cells can. But for a number of diseases, you need only one type of reparative cell to cure the disease. Another factor that must be considered is the possibility for the rejection of an embryonic stem cell transplant and the need to place the recipient on anti-rejection drugs. This is not the case for adult stem cells recovered from an individual and then reimplanted back into that same individual. I am advocating that we continue to support and expand all types of stem cell research but let’s not overlook a plentiful and accessible source of stem cells, those found within the pulp of developing wisdom teeth. This is coming from a parent of a 12 yr old son with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, an incurable degenerative disease. My son is the inspiration behind StemSave, Inc, www.StemSave.com an affordable service that allows an individual to cryopreserve their stem cells from teeth for future regenerative therapies.
Adult Stem Cells Are Superior and Moral, Data Shows
There have been about 70 separate therapies develped to treat a number of ailments by the use of adult stem cells.
There HAS NOT BEEN ONE successful treatment using embryonic stem cells.
The drive for using embryos is greed. Geron Corp., the Reeve Clinic and all the others, can't patent a therapy that utilizes the patient's own cells for the cure. It's just that simple.
Equally simple is the science that proves an embryo is indeed a human life. Every human being began as a single-cell embryo. That is science and reason which supports a well-founded religious conviction. It is a classic example faith and reason complementing each other. Which is the basis of a good and ordered society.
Just because science gives us the ability to do something, does not mean that it ought to be done.
Rebuttals (Part II)
(sorry, I'm long-winded) ;o)
"Murdered babies... Not quite. Sperm and Eggs... Are these babies? No. You put a sperm with an egg and cell division occurs. Is this a baby. No. It's a potential baby, yes. These cells are blank slates at the point they are of any interest to this type of research."
You are right, sperm and eggs (gametes) are not babies. However, you are wrong when you imply that a zygote is not human life. I have never understood the argument that "it is just a bunch of cells." At what point do you believe this magically becomes human life? I have never heard any argument about when that magical point might be. Becoming a human is not like going through adolescence, where the exact age-range is ambiguous. It is obvious: human life begins at conception. When the gametes unite to form a zygote, a new life begins.
"If in the eyes of God this is wrong, then the individuals responsible will have a higher power to answer to later on. After all, He gave us free will. This research will continue whether an individual or group likes it or not. The only thing that you will be able to do is to not participate."
Since we have free will, does that give us the right to steal, to rape, to murder, or to judge another by the color of their skin? We shouldn't outlaw those activities just because some individuals or groups don't like them, right? As long as they answer to God in the end, we should just stay out of it... Doesn't make a whole lot of sense, does it? We are responsible for social justice. If a specific population is being marginalized (in this case, the most innocent and vulnerable of human life), we are responsible to stand up for them.
To all those who like to call others "idiots" for what they believe in, you're going about this the wrong way. If you want your opinion to be heard, share it respectfully. I am willing to listen, but only when my opinion is heard with respect. If in the end we disagree, we disagree. No need to hate people for their beliefs--if I did, I would have very few friends.
Rebuttals (Part I)
"I hope those complaining about destruction of life here live solely on processed cheese byproduct. Shame to be hypocritical by eating something that was alive, like say a tomato."
There is a vast difference between human life and plant/animal life. Humans have souls and are capable of cognition...I'm not aware of any research on the thoughts of tomatoes.
"If you're against this, then you'd better be against in vitro fertilization. They create lots and lots of embryos and throw out the ones they don't use. Oh noes, baby corpses in a petri dish in a trash can!?"
I am against in vitro fertilization, and that is one of the reasons why.
"At last we are begining to free them from the fundamentalist bigots who insist everyone must follow their irrational beliefs by protecting micron sized cells while letting sentient human patients suffer and die."
I am not intolerant of opinions that differ from my own--in fact, I embrace them. However, I do not tolerate the destruction of human life. The creation of embryos for the sole purpose of destroying that life to save another is wrong. I do not like to see people suffer, but I don't think that is any reason to destroy another human life.
"No loving God would ever prevent us from trying to heal our own kind, and they are working on better ways to generate stem cells."
You are right, but no loving God would support us breeding our own kind and killing them to save another.
"And not ALL stem cells come from "murdered babies". Read up on this type of thing and maybe you can make a more educated statement."
You are right, but if you read this article, you would notice they are speaking specifically about "embryonic" stem cells. I am all for stem cell research, but use stem cells that don't require taking another's life.
im a little confused... what part of this article is forcing people to take part in embryonic stem cell research?
i see many people going arguing against it. just curious, how are these affecting you as an individual?
If in the eyes of God this is wrong, then the individuals responsible will have a higher power to answer to later on. After all, He gave us free will. This research will continue whether an individual or group likes it or not. The only thing that you will be able to do is to not participate.
To SamuelK of TX - religious wackos are on your side
First of all I have two degrees in engineering related sciences. Second, nearly all branches of science were created by Bible believers (see: http://www.icr.org/article/bible-believing-scientists-past/ ) and the scientific method would be unkown without the Bible influenced Western world where Christians created the University system. Without Christianity, we'd be still doing alchemy in the Dark Ages. Third, James Cone who wrote Black Theology and Black Power is a true religious wacko and he is Obama's mentor through Obama's 20 yr pastor Jeremiah Wright, another religious wacko, who is friends with Rev. Louis Farrakhan, a racist Muslim religious wacko. Friends w/Obama is Oprah,a new age occultic religious wacko who supports new age channeling, more religious wackiness. A book called, Abortion Is Not A Sin (which I'm sure embryonic stem cell researchers may us) is based on new age channelers & their channelings. Most atheists are embracing the bizarre belief called Directed Panspermia that little green outer space aliens sent us here. This is religious wackiness to the extreme. Atheism also creates the world's worst tyrants like Stalin, creating climates unfit for scientific progression. Embracing panspermia ahteisim, new age occultism, and black liberation theology, are bringing us back to the dark ages, not Judeo-Christianity. Religious wackiness and scientific regression is on your side.
Good Grief
Yes, there has been remarkable results using adult stem cells, but that does not mean we should not be able to investigate treatments that require the use of embryonic stem cells. There are many unused Embryos that were frozen for fertility treatment that are now unneeded. Are you suggesting that if the women does not want to use the embryos that it is any different morally to use the for research compared to have them disposed with because she does not want people to use her genetic material. What about women who does not want children and chooses to donate her eggs instead having them destroyed by her own monthly bodily processes? You are not forced to use your embryos or use treatments that will be developed using these embryos, but what would you do if your child has a life threatening disease that could only be cure by treatments that involve embryonic stem cells? I respect your choice to not want to participate or agree with embryonic stem so please allow others the choice make their own judgments.
Get out of the way, brainwashed religious wackos
For so long the ridiculous religious right in this country has been holding back real progress. Finally we're seeing some sense in progressing ourselves for betterment through the logical use of technology. Let's hope this trend of modern progress continues, and that we shed more of our archaic, smothering, and obsolete religious dogmas.
@Nancy: They're not murdered babies. They're not even aborted. Stem cells don't even need to come from fetuses anymore. Please educate yourself on the current state of embryonic research, as well as other general sciences so that you can make a practical argument in the future.
