Scientists Heartened at Prospect of End to Stem Cell Ban

AN OVUM DONORS VIEW

I was an ovum donor. Californis requires that donors state specifically where they want "excess" embryos to go if not used by the intended couple (made law in 2003) Other states do not have this. While a patient at Yale I was way over stimulated to produce over 30 eggs instead of the normal 6-10, presumably so they could have more "excess" embryos for their research program. I felt robbed. I know there are a lot of hopeful suffering people out there seeking cures but you are being sold false hopes. There is no convincing data that any of these treatments produce any progress and to the contrary, can actually have negative health consequences...turning into tumors and cancer. Women are being over stimulated to create these "excess" embryos and suffering serious psychological consequences. Embryos are disappearing from fertility clinics and hospital to supply these embryos for research and the FBI has to go chasing them all over the globe. I am not against the research but regulations need to be masde to preserve the ethics. If you are receiving these treatments you have a responsibilty to inquire as to the integrity of the business, so that more victums are not produced as a result. If my embryos ever make it to patient as some form of treatment, I hope it provides some hope and does not just lead to more suffering. I will forever have to wonder what happened to these tiny, precious, pieces of me that I entended to become a child for an infetile couple...not to be manufactured into some potentially harmful biopharmaceutical.

Stem Cells

The moron who wrote the first first comment above obviously does not have a child who has diabetes nor does he know of what he speaks. These cells have the potential to cure Type 1 diabetes which is typically diagnosed in a patient during childhood. From that point forward, they use insulin as life support since without it they would be dead in a matter days. He probably believes the lies George Bush was telling the public about stem cells. Where is the "ethical" dilemma in using something that would otherwise be flushed or otherwise disposed of as "medical waste" for research that could potentially cure millions of Americans of this insidious and devestating disease? Let's go with Bush and let them all die, go blind, suffer end stage renal disease, brain damage, amputations, heart attack or stroke rather than use an embryo that would be thrown away...

Self-Contradictory Article

"Stem cell research received a big boost in January, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first-ever human trial using embryonic stem cells as a medical treatment."

How? You JUST WROTE THAT IT'S BEEN BANNED for the past several years. Do you see this self-contradiction?

Bush did NOT "ban" embryonic stem cell research; he merely installed some sensible guidelines and limited funding to those stem cell lines already created, from embryonic human beings already destroyed. I suppose that doesn't make a juicy enough story for you, and so you fallaciously claim that there is a "ban."

For anyone to argue that we'll "finally" be respecting science in this country is a direct affront to anyone who's performed any other type of research. Such people apparently believe that there should be no ethics within science and medicine, but millions of Americans disagree. And we're not alone: years after Bush found his compromise, the European Union came to exactly the same agreement: European Union installs same guidelines as did Bush:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5209106.stm.

Notice that that BBC link mentions that most of the stem cell research being done in EUROPE involves adult, NOT embryonic stem cells. Apparently, President Bush wasn't the only one who supports maintaining a healthy relationship between science and ethics.

stem cell research

I am so excited to think that we are coming so close to giving life back to so many. Please susport Pres. Obama in passing this bill.My prayers are with each family that has waited so long for this news.

More Information

If anyone would like to know where their representative, or congress as a whole, stands on stem cell research and many other important issues in the 110th congress, visit sharp.sefora.org. There's a ton of useful information.