From the invaluable Don Margolis comes this wonderful news:
Parkinson’s Patient Helped by Adult Stem Cell Research- A Published Case Study
Due to advances in Adult Stem Cell research, Dr. Dennis Turner was helped by his own stem cells to treat his Parkinson’s Disease. Treated by Dr. Michael Levesque of NeuroGeneration, in 1999, Dr. Turner’s “motor scales improved by over 80% for at least 36 months.”
While the case of Dr. Dennis Turner has been well known for a long period of time, this is significant to some in that it finally appeared in a peer reviewed study published in a medical journal- Bentham Open Stem Cell Journal.
(Emphasis added)
Mr. Margolis also links to the press release issued by NeuroGeneration:
"Scientists announced today the publication of a landmark peer-reviewed paper in the February issue of the Bentham Open Stem Cell Journal which outlines the long term results of the world's first clinical trial using autologous neural stem cells for the treatment of Parkinson's disease. According to lead author, Michel F. Levesque, MD, FRCS(C), FACS, "We have documented the first successful adult neural stem cell transplantation to reverse the effects of Parkinson's disease and demonstrated the long term safety and therapeutic effects of this approach." Dr Levesque is a principal investigator for NeuroGeneration, a biotechnology company, and is affiliated with the UCLA School of Medicine and the Brain Research Institute
Radio host Rush Limbaugh covered the story too. Mr. Limbaugh took a lot of heat sometime back when he challenged Michael J. Fox over Fox's support of immoral and unproven embryonic stem-cell research (ESCR). Of course, people sympathized with Mr. Fox because he suffers from Parkinsons, but Mr. Limbaugh was right morally and, it turns out, scientifically, and Mr. Fox was wrong. Today, Mr. Limbaugh said:
"I hope somebody can find Michael J. Fox and tell him about this. You don't have to kill babies in order to make progress via adult stem cells on Parkinson's disease."
We pray that Mr. Fox, and all who suffer from Parkinson's Disease will benefit from this new, morally sound approach.
__________________________________________________________
There's more stem-cell news today, but there is nothing good about it. From the Associated Press:
Report: Fetal stem cells trigger tumors in ill boy
Feb 17 08:01 PM US/EasternBy LAURAN NEERGAARDAP Medical Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - A family desperate to save a child from a lethal brain disease sought highly experimental injections of fetal stem cells—injections that triggered tumors in the boy's brain and spinal cord, Israeli scientists reported Tuesday....
The unidentified Israeli boy has a rare, fatal genetic disease with a tongue-twisting name—ataxia telangiectasia, or A-T. Degeneration of a certain brain region gradually robs these children of movement. Plus, a faulty immune system leads to frequent infections and cancers. Most die in their teens or early 20s.
Israeli doctors pieced together the child's history: When he was 9, the family traveled to Russia, to a Moscow clinic that provided injections of neural stem cells from fetuses—immature cells destined to grow into a main type of brain cells. The cells were injected into his brain and spinal cord twice more, at ages 10 and 12.
Back home in Israel at age 13, the boy's A-T was severe enough to require that he use a wheelchair when he also began complaining of headaches. Tests at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv uncovered a growth pushing on his brain stem and a second on his spinal cord. Surgeons removed the spinal cord mass when the boy was 14, in 2006 and they say his general condition has remained stable since then.
But was the boy prone to tumors anyway or were the fetal stem cells to blame? A Tel Aviv University team extensively tested the tumor tissue and concluded it was the fetal cells."
(Emphasis added). We pray for the little boy and his family!
But the propensity of embryonic stem-cells to turn into tumors is not news. Back in April 2008, Don Margolis reported:
"Lord Patel of Dunkeld, the chairman of the UK National Stem Cell Network and a chancellor at Dundee University, says embryonic stem cell research is simply not working. He conceded in an interview with the Scotsman newspaper that the controversial science may never deliver new treatments for diseases.
“In terms of embryonic stem cell therapy, there is currently no such therapy that is available in a large number of patients,” he said. Patel also admitted scientists may never be able to overcome the hurdles — such as the development of tumors or immune syndrome rejection issues — that plague embryonic stem cell research and make it risky in humans."
It's one of our mantras here at "A Shepherd's Voice": Are California voters having second thoughts yet about shelling out $3 billion + for immoral & unproven embryonic stem cell research, which has yet to show a single cure, while adult stem cells are curing people left and right?
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query adult stem-cell. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query adult stem-cell. Sort by date Show all posts
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Doctors Challenge FDA Over Adult Stem-Cell Restrictions
We've all heard how under an Obama administration the government would no longer stand in the way of scientific research. Well, maybe President Obama could have a little talk with his own FDA. Here's a press release from group of Doctors who wishes he would (emphases added):
Physician Group Opposes FDA’s Position on Adult Stem Cells
BROOMFIELD, COLO. (March 26, 2009)-The American Stem Cell Therapy Association (ASCTA) announced today the on-line publication of its mission statements and charter. The organization was formed in response to the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) recent position that the adult stem cells found in everyone’s body are drugs, a position the ASCTA opposes. This physician organization is establishing laboratory guidelines that will allow doctors to bring adult stem cell therapy to their patients more quickly. These guidelines will be similar to those used by fertility specialists in In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) labs, where many of the same cell culture techniques are used.
"Many patients are dying or suffering day by day with incurable diseases or problems that require major surgery. These patients should have access to basic adult stem cell therapy now.” stated Christopher J. Centeno, M.D. “ASCTA is establishing guidelines which will allow the safe use of the patient’s own adult stem cells under the supervision of doctors.” continued Centeno. Another ASCTA physician member, Frank Falco, M.D. stated, “The FDA’s position against someone using their own stem cells is taking it too far. We are talking about a person using their own tissue to treat a degenerative disorder or process safely without the use of medications or surgery. Although we agree that oversight and standards are necessary, this should be provided through a physician organization such as ASCTA rather than by a government agency.”
The rest of the press release is here.
H/t to our friend Don Margolis, who weighed in on the issue:
"FDA’s Stance On Your Own Stem Cells
The FDA’s stance on Adult Stem Cells taken from a patient is that it should be treated as a new drug- ie, subject to 7-10 years of clinical trials and testing for each use of it. This means 7-10 years of clinical trials for adult stem cells for heart disease. 7-10 years of clinical trials and tests for diabetes, 7-10 for spinal cord injury…you get the picture. Think about how much money and how much time it will take to get through the hurdles for each particular disease/condition. How many people will die and suffer during that time because they can’t be treated with their own cells- which are safe and have no side effects.
Adult Stem Cells- the same as Lipitor or Viagra?
Cells taken from your own body are being treated by the FDA exactly the same as Lipitor or Viagra were treated. Lipitor and Viagra have side effects (ex. Lipitor- muscle weakness, Viagra- risk of heart attack) because you are introducing a new foreign chemical into your body. Adult Stem Cells are not some mysterious concoction of chemicals brewed up after 10 years of research and development. The Adult Stem Cells are your own cells- removed from a patient so they have no side effects. They are safer than taking an aspirin.
Stem Cells- Your Own Repair System In Place
In essence, your own stem cells are already there to repair damage to the body, let the body heal itself. When you fall and scrape your knee, your body will send stem cells to heal the damage. However, sometimes for certain conditions and diseases, there aren’t enough of these stem cells to do that. Therefore, these doctors/researchers are multiplying the amount of adult stem cells and then putting them into the area that needs repair- and then they let the body’s own repair mechanisms (the adult stem cells) do what they are “born to do”- no controversy, no ethical concerns, a 3rd grader can understand this— so why shouldn’t it be available in the United States?
These American doctors are finally speaking up and I (and thousands of patients who can benefit from using their own stem cells) applaud them."
Let's pray the FDA gets out of the way!
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
Physician Group Opposes FDA’s Position on Adult Stem Cells
BROOMFIELD, COLO. (March 26, 2009)-The American Stem Cell Therapy Association (ASCTA) announced today the on-line publication of its mission statements and charter. The organization was formed in response to the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) recent position that the adult stem cells found in everyone’s body are drugs, a position the ASCTA opposes. This physician organization is establishing laboratory guidelines that will allow doctors to bring adult stem cell therapy to their patients more quickly. These guidelines will be similar to those used by fertility specialists in In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) labs, where many of the same cell culture techniques are used.
"Many patients are dying or suffering day by day with incurable diseases or problems that require major surgery. These patients should have access to basic adult stem cell therapy now.” stated Christopher J. Centeno, M.D. “ASCTA is establishing guidelines which will allow the safe use of the patient’s own adult stem cells under the supervision of doctors.” continued Centeno. Another ASCTA physician member, Frank Falco, M.D. stated, “The FDA’s position against someone using their own stem cells is taking it too far. We are talking about a person using their own tissue to treat a degenerative disorder or process safely without the use of medications or surgery. Although we agree that oversight and standards are necessary, this should be provided through a physician organization such as ASCTA rather than by a government agency.”
The rest of the press release is here.
H/t to our friend Don Margolis, who weighed in on the issue:
"FDA’s Stance On Your Own Stem Cells
The FDA’s stance on Adult Stem Cells taken from a patient is that it should be treated as a new drug- ie, subject to 7-10 years of clinical trials and testing for each use of it. This means 7-10 years of clinical trials for adult stem cells for heart disease. 7-10 years of clinical trials and tests for diabetes, 7-10 for spinal cord injury…you get the picture. Think about how much money and how much time it will take to get through the hurdles for each particular disease/condition. How many people will die and suffer during that time because they can’t be treated with their own cells- which are safe and have no side effects.
Adult Stem Cells- the same as Lipitor or Viagra?
Cells taken from your own body are being treated by the FDA exactly the same as Lipitor or Viagra were treated. Lipitor and Viagra have side effects (ex. Lipitor- muscle weakness, Viagra- risk of heart attack) because you are introducing a new foreign chemical into your body. Adult Stem Cells are not some mysterious concoction of chemicals brewed up after 10 years of research and development. The Adult Stem Cells are your own cells- removed from a patient so they have no side effects. They are safer than taking an aspirin.
Stem Cells- Your Own Repair System In Place
In essence, your own stem cells are already there to repair damage to the body, let the body heal itself. When you fall and scrape your knee, your body will send stem cells to heal the damage. However, sometimes for certain conditions and diseases, there aren’t enough of these stem cells to do that. Therefore, these doctors/researchers are multiplying the amount of adult stem cells and then putting them into the area that needs repair- and then they let the body’s own repair mechanisms (the adult stem cells) do what they are “born to do”- no controversy, no ethical concerns, a 3rd grader can understand this— so why shouldn’t it be available in the United States?
These American doctors are finally speaking up and I (and thousands of patients who can benefit from using their own stem cells) applaud them."
Let's pray the FDA gets out of the way!
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Stem-Cells to Treat Arthritis in Your Pet
Yep, it's true.
While the majority of the public is still being swindled by the claims of the Embryonic Stem Cell Research advocates, which have produced zero results, there have been over 100 treatments/cures effected by adult stem-cells.
It's not even humans being treated anymore--adult stem cells are being used to cure animals.
From Don Margolis:
"In this blog, we have well documented the effects that Adult Stem Cells (or Repair Stem Cells as I call them) have on dogs. We have seen plenty of stories of stem cell therapy helping dogs. Now we have yet another dog helped by using his own Repair Stem Cells.
KC, a golden retriever was getting up in age- 11 years old. He was beginning to slow down. In his owner, Krista Moyes words, “He was having a hard time getting up in the morning and really wasn’t walking at all on his back leg.”
Krista took KC to the vet who said surgery wasn’t an option, it was typical for a dog KC’s age to start slowing down with arthritis and decreased range of motion in the legs- for KC it was the right leg.
The Vet, Dr. Lillian Rizzo suggested a new stem cell procedure. This stem cell therapy was developed by Vet-Stem, a stem cell company for horses, dogs, and cats that uses the animal’s own stem cells.
Dr. Rizzo then removed some fat tissue from KC, and sent it off to Vet-Stem where they isolate stem cells from the fat tissue and then send it back already packed in syringes and ready to go.
Then Dr. Rizzo simply injected the stem cells into the site of the injury and let the Repair Stem Cells do what they do best– REPAIR
I’ll let Dr. Rizzo have her say:
She explains, “I concentrate the stem cells at the site of injury and then the stem cells have mediated inflammation and repair. The injury to the joint cartilage and that’s really the only thing that can do that. The medications can help with pain and support to the joint cartilage but the stem cells actually rebuild the damaged joint cartilage.”
Dr. Rizzo says they are several benefits to this therapy. It is minimally invasive and pain medications may not be needed long term and you have a happier animal. And the results???
I’ll let KC’s owner, Krista handle this one:
“Two weeks after the surgery I looked at him one day and he was standing on his foot instead of just his toe,” Moyes says. “I really noticed an attitude change as far as his energy level he felt better so he was wrestling, carrying on and playing.”
Moyes says she is just glad she got her old friend back. “If it was going to help him just a little bit I was willing to do it.”
This is wonderful news and I’m very happy for Krista and KC. However, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could make the same thing available for humans- Repair Stem Cells- simple procedure, very little downside and it can help improve the quality of millions of lives. If we had the will, this could be done now."
While Californians are still waiting for some sort of return on the $3 billion plus they shelled out for immoral and unproven Embryonic Stem-Cells, adult stem-cells are treating people (and now animals!) left and right.
Every few days I try to check Mr. Margolis blog, because he is totally committed to spreading the word about adult stem-cells (which he calls "repair stem-cells") and he always has the latest news. I encourage you to do the same. Right now he is at the World Congress of Regenerative Medicine & Stem Cells 2008 in China, giving a talk on stem cell treatments for diabetes. From his report:
"I’m meeting lots of doctors and stem cell researchers, ALL OF WHOM know about Repair Stem Cells vs. dozens of diseases and 97% of whom know embryonic stem cells can’t cure even a hangnail."
God Bless Him!
While the majority of the public is still being swindled by the claims of the Embryonic Stem Cell Research advocates, which have produced zero results, there have been over 100 treatments/cures effected by adult stem-cells.
It's not even humans being treated anymore--adult stem cells are being used to cure animals.
From Don Margolis:
"In this blog, we have well documented the effects that Adult Stem Cells (or Repair Stem Cells as I call them) have on dogs. We have seen plenty of stories of stem cell therapy helping dogs. Now we have yet another dog helped by using his own Repair Stem Cells.
KC, a golden retriever was getting up in age- 11 years old. He was beginning to slow down. In his owner, Krista Moyes words, “He was having a hard time getting up in the morning and really wasn’t walking at all on his back leg.”
Krista took KC to the vet who said surgery wasn’t an option, it was typical for a dog KC’s age to start slowing down with arthritis and decreased range of motion in the legs- for KC it was the right leg.
The Vet, Dr. Lillian Rizzo suggested a new stem cell procedure. This stem cell therapy was developed by Vet-Stem, a stem cell company for horses, dogs, and cats that uses the animal’s own stem cells.
Dr. Rizzo then removed some fat tissue from KC, and sent it off to Vet-Stem where they isolate stem cells from the fat tissue and then send it back already packed in syringes and ready to go.
Then Dr. Rizzo simply injected the stem cells into the site of the injury and let the Repair Stem Cells do what they do best– REPAIR
I’ll let Dr. Rizzo have her say:
She explains, “I concentrate the stem cells at the site of injury and then the stem cells have mediated inflammation and repair. The injury to the joint cartilage and that’s really the only thing that can do that. The medications can help with pain and support to the joint cartilage but the stem cells actually rebuild the damaged joint cartilage.”
Dr. Rizzo says they are several benefits to this therapy. It is minimally invasive and pain medications may not be needed long term and you have a happier animal. And the results???
I’ll let KC’s owner, Krista handle this one:
“Two weeks after the surgery I looked at him one day and he was standing on his foot instead of just his toe,” Moyes says. “I really noticed an attitude change as far as his energy level he felt better so he was wrestling, carrying on and playing.”
Moyes says she is just glad she got her old friend back. “If it was going to help him just a little bit I was willing to do it.”
This is wonderful news and I’m very happy for Krista and KC. However, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could make the same thing available for humans- Repair Stem Cells- simple procedure, very little downside and it can help improve the quality of millions of lives. If we had the will, this could be done now."
While Californians are still waiting for some sort of return on the $3 billion plus they shelled out for immoral and unproven Embryonic Stem-Cells, adult stem-cells are treating people (and now animals!) left and right.
Every few days I try to check Mr. Margolis blog, because he is totally committed to spreading the word about adult stem-cells (which he calls "repair stem-cells") and he always has the latest news. I encourage you to do the same. Right now he is at the World Congress of Regenerative Medicine & Stem Cells 2008 in China, giving a talk on stem cell treatments for diabetes. From his report:
"I’m meeting lots of doctors and stem cell researchers, ALL OF WHOM know about Repair Stem Cells vs. dozens of diseases and 97% of whom know embryonic stem cells can’t cure even a hangnail."
God Bless Him!
Friday, February 29, 2008
Stem-cell Update
The last issue of "Catholic San Francisco" our Archdiocesan newspaper had an atrociously ill-informed article (PDF: 8MB) about embryonic stem-cell research, and the Catholic arguments against it.
This week, in the "Letters" section, two extremely well informed Catholics set the record straight. We reproduce their letters here in full.
"I am writing to express profound disappointment with the Feb. 15 front-page article regarding the stem cell conference at Dominican College.
First, the article itself is ideologically biased from the perspective of embryonic stem cell advocates. Frankly, it read like a promotion of the Institute of Regenerative Medicine; the Institute was put in place by Proposition 71, against which the California Catholic Conference of Bishops (including the San Francisco Archdiocese) campaigned tirelessly in the 2004 election.
Second, it was devoid of the Church’s well reasoned moral argument against destroying nascent human life for the purpose of furthering scientific technology.
In short, we oppose feeding off of (i.e. killing) our young to prolong our own existence. The existence ordained by God to new life is not ours for the foraging. The unborn, regardless of their point in the gestational path, are not fodder for the petri dishes of scientists who want to be their own gods. (Interestingly, the article was revealing about the real objective of scientists who are obsessed with embryonic stem cell research; they want to be able to create life, to be their own gods; cures are ancillary to the process.)
Third, the article was also devoid of scientific facts about embryonic stem cell research, namely that this research holds no promise for anyone who is alive today. The research is so problematic and unpromising that no venture capitalists will fund it, thus the push for taxpayer funding. Also, over 73 diseases are being treated with adult stem cell therapies. Adult stem cell research is wildly successful yet does not require the destruction of human life. In fact, every time we hear about a success in stem cell research, it is an adult stem cell therapy. Where was this fact in the article?
Finally, where was the Church’s counter-point in this article? Why was Vicki Evans, Respect Life coordinator for the Archdiocese, who is very well versed on the topic, not interviewed? As a person who has worked hard (as a volunteer on behalf of the Church) to dispel the propaganda put forth by scientism and the mainstream media about the scientifically inaccurate “virtues” of embryonic stem cell research, this article was a slap in the face. I look forward to a correction in the upcoming Catholic San Francisco.
Dolores Meehan
San Francisco
and:
I don’t know if I am more disappointed with Dominican University of California (self-described as a “university of Catholic heritage” in San Rafael) that held a conference showcasing people involved with destruction of human life and cloning for scientific research, or with the ethically neutral reporting of it in Catholic San Francisco (Feb. 15).
The article unwittingly makes a case for continued destruction of human life in its most vulnerable stage – a stage of life that every human person goes through without exception.
At one point, seven paragraphs in a row supported the need for experimentation and destruction of human embryonic life followed by a weak mention of Catholic teaching about human life qualified by “Catholic natural lawthinking argues . . .” and “Catholic thinkers urge scientists to use adult sources . . ..” There is nothing to think about. It is a matter of understanding the magisterium.
It is a scientific fact that from the moment of conception, there is a unique unrepeatable human life, genetically different from his or her parents – yes, “his” or “her”, not “its”. Every human life has equal value and dignity whether strong or weak, able or disabled, conscious or unconscious, embryo or elderly. Why? Because God creates each in his image and likeness.
In addition, there was the unanswered quote from a secular “bioethicist” who said, “You have big people who are here with their diseases, and then you have . . . embryos”. “. . . [The embryo] is not self-conscious.” It might have been nice to mention it is a matter of social justice that “big people” take care of little people. They don’t kill them for private interests because they are weak and are not conscious. Domination of the poor, weak and vulnerable by the wealthy, strong and powerful is always wrong.
The article wrongly leaves the impression that stem cells generated from human eggs are ethical as long as embryos are not involved. Harvesting human eggs is a dangerous and painful process. It is an assault on the dignity of women, particularly poor women, too easily coerced into selling their eggs and jeopardizing their health. Women in the third world would be the most vulnerable, but then we have these “big people” – rich and powerful.
It is sad that some of the best-informed people in the country on this subject sit right down the hall from Catholic San Francisco in the chancery office, and were apparently not consulted. In addition, there are many competent and well-informed laity, religious and clergy in our Archdiocese who could have contributed a rebuttal from a Catholic perspective. The misunderstandings in the article demonstrate how complex the issues are regarding ethical and unethical stem cell research. Ethical alternatives have provided cures and treatments for almost 80 diseases compared to none from the unethical research. Catholic citizens who want to do the right thing are desperate for help in understanding the truth and what is at stake. This article did not help fill that need.
Bill May
Chairman, Catholics for the Common Good
San Francisco
This week, in the "Letters" section, two extremely well informed Catholics set the record straight. We reproduce their letters here in full.
"I am writing to express profound disappointment with the Feb. 15 front-page article regarding the stem cell conference at Dominican College.
First, the article itself is ideologically biased from the perspective of embryonic stem cell advocates. Frankly, it read like a promotion of the Institute of Regenerative Medicine; the Institute was put in place by Proposition 71, against which the California Catholic Conference of Bishops (including the San Francisco Archdiocese) campaigned tirelessly in the 2004 election.
Second, it was devoid of the Church’s well reasoned moral argument against destroying nascent human life for the purpose of furthering scientific technology.
In short, we oppose feeding off of (i.e. killing) our young to prolong our own existence. The existence ordained by God to new life is not ours for the foraging. The unborn, regardless of their point in the gestational path, are not fodder for the petri dishes of scientists who want to be their own gods. (Interestingly, the article was revealing about the real objective of scientists who are obsessed with embryonic stem cell research; they want to be able to create life, to be their own gods; cures are ancillary to the process.)
Third, the article was also devoid of scientific facts about embryonic stem cell research, namely that this research holds no promise for anyone who is alive today. The research is so problematic and unpromising that no venture capitalists will fund it, thus the push for taxpayer funding. Also, over 73 diseases are being treated with adult stem cell therapies. Adult stem cell research is wildly successful yet does not require the destruction of human life. In fact, every time we hear about a success in stem cell research, it is an adult stem cell therapy. Where was this fact in the article?
Finally, where was the Church’s counter-point in this article? Why was Vicki Evans, Respect Life coordinator for the Archdiocese, who is very well versed on the topic, not interviewed? As a person who has worked hard (as a volunteer on behalf of the Church) to dispel the propaganda put forth by scientism and the mainstream media about the scientifically inaccurate “virtues” of embryonic stem cell research, this article was a slap in the face. I look forward to a correction in the upcoming Catholic San Francisco.
Dolores Meehan
San Francisco
and:
I don’t know if I am more disappointed with Dominican University of California (self-described as a “university of Catholic heritage” in San Rafael) that held a conference showcasing people involved with destruction of human life and cloning for scientific research, or with the ethically neutral reporting of it in Catholic San Francisco (Feb. 15).
The article unwittingly makes a case for continued destruction of human life in its most vulnerable stage – a stage of life that every human person goes through without exception.
At one point, seven paragraphs in a row supported the need for experimentation and destruction of human embryonic life followed by a weak mention of Catholic teaching about human life qualified by “Catholic natural lawthinking argues . . .” and “Catholic thinkers urge scientists to use adult sources . . ..” There is nothing to think about. It is a matter of understanding the magisterium.
It is a scientific fact that from the moment of conception, there is a unique unrepeatable human life, genetically different from his or her parents – yes, “his” or “her”, not “its”. Every human life has equal value and dignity whether strong or weak, able or disabled, conscious or unconscious, embryo or elderly. Why? Because God creates each in his image and likeness.
In addition, there was the unanswered quote from a secular “bioethicist” who said, “You have big people who are here with their diseases, and then you have . . . embryos”. “. . . [The embryo] is not self-conscious.” It might have been nice to mention it is a matter of social justice that “big people” take care of little people. They don’t kill them for private interests because they are weak and are not conscious. Domination of the poor, weak and vulnerable by the wealthy, strong and powerful is always wrong.
The article wrongly leaves the impression that stem cells generated from human eggs are ethical as long as embryos are not involved. Harvesting human eggs is a dangerous and painful process. It is an assault on the dignity of women, particularly poor women, too easily coerced into selling their eggs and jeopardizing their health. Women in the third world would be the most vulnerable, but then we have these “big people” – rich and powerful.
It is sad that some of the best-informed people in the country on this subject sit right down the hall from Catholic San Francisco in the chancery office, and were apparently not consulted. In addition, there are many competent and well-informed laity, religious and clergy in our Archdiocese who could have contributed a rebuttal from a Catholic perspective. The misunderstandings in the article demonstrate how complex the issues are regarding ethical and unethical stem cell research. Ethical alternatives have provided cures and treatments for almost 80 diseases compared to none from the unethical research. Catholic citizens who want to do the right thing are desperate for help in understanding the truth and what is at stake. This article did not help fill that need.
Bill May
Chairman, Catholics for the Common Good
San Francisco
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Adult Stem Cell Update!
It's one of our mantras here at "A Shepherd's Voice": Are California voters having second thoughts yet about shelling out $3 billion + for immoral & unproven embryonic stem cell research, which has yet to show a single cure, while adult stem cells are curing people left and right?
The latest, from Catholic News Agency:
Pfizer to invest in adult stem-cell treatment for eyes
"The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has announced that it is funding a new adult stem-cell treatment that could treat diabetes-induced retinal damage, a leading cause of blindness.
Forbes Magazine says that Pfizer is funding the creation of a San Diego biotech company named EyeCyte to develop stem-cell treatments for eye diseases. The company will base its work upon Scripps Research Institute ophthalmologist Martin Friedlander’s research involving stem-cells from blood and bone marrow. EyeCyte will receive about $3 million from Pfizer, which in return has the right of first refusal regarding the new company’s products . . .
In animal experiments, adult stem-cells have shown a remarkable ability to target and repair damaged blood vessels in the eye, which are a key problem in diabetic eye disease and macular degeneration.
"It is unbelievable. These cells know where to go and they target the site of injury," said Friedlander, according to Forbes. He said that in his lab he has cured mice “10 times over,” but noted it is unknown whether the treatment will help people."
Now, those guys over at Pfizer aren't investing $3 million as charity. There doing it because they think this process has serious potential to help cure blindness in human beings, and thus enable their investment to be profitable. Nothing wrong with that. Pray God the treatment works! But when's the last time you heard of ANY breakthrough from embryonic stem-cells that would induce investors to shell out their own money? What happened was the backers of Proposition 71 sold the voters pie-in-the-sky stories about ESCR, then they got $3 billion of your money, taxpayer's money, to do heaven knows what.
The breakthroughs in adult & cord blood stem cells are coming so fast that it seems that even the scientists can't keep up with them. Make sure to check out the website of Mr. Don Margolis. He seems to be right on top of the various new treatments. Just in the last two days he has posted about adult stem-cell treatments for cerebral palsy and epilepsy, pulmonary hypertension, and sickle-cell anemia.
The latest, from Catholic News Agency:
Pfizer to invest in adult stem-cell treatment for eyes
"The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has announced that it is funding a new adult stem-cell treatment that could treat diabetes-induced retinal damage, a leading cause of blindness.
Forbes Magazine says that Pfizer is funding the creation of a San Diego biotech company named EyeCyte to develop stem-cell treatments for eye diseases. The company will base its work upon Scripps Research Institute ophthalmologist Martin Friedlander’s research involving stem-cells from blood and bone marrow. EyeCyte will receive about $3 million from Pfizer, which in return has the right of first refusal regarding the new company’s products . . .
In animal experiments, adult stem-cells have shown a remarkable ability to target and repair damaged blood vessels in the eye, which are a key problem in diabetic eye disease and macular degeneration.
"It is unbelievable. These cells know where to go and they target the site of injury," said Friedlander, according to Forbes. He said that in his lab he has cured mice “10 times over,” but noted it is unknown whether the treatment will help people."
Now, those guys over at Pfizer aren't investing $3 million as charity. There doing it because they think this process has serious potential to help cure blindness in human beings, and thus enable their investment to be profitable. Nothing wrong with that. Pray God the treatment works! But when's the last time you heard of ANY breakthrough from embryonic stem-cells that would induce investors to shell out their own money? What happened was the backers of Proposition 71 sold the voters pie-in-the-sky stories about ESCR, then they got $3 billion of your money, taxpayer's money, to do heaven knows what.
The breakthroughs in adult & cord blood stem cells are coming so fast that it seems that even the scientists can't keep up with them. Make sure to check out the website of Mr. Don Margolis. He seems to be right on top of the various new treatments. Just in the last two days he has posted about adult stem-cell treatments for cerebral palsy and epilepsy, pulmonary hypertension, and sickle-cell anemia.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Adult Stem Cell UPDATE: Burns Treated, Leukemia Patient Healed
We have not been following the amazing adult stem-cell progess as much as we should lately. Here are two MORE amazing stories:
From KSL in Salt Lake City:
Stem cell spray heals burns
A spray solution of a patient's own stem cells is healing their severe burns. So far, early experiments under a University of Utah pilot project are showing some remarkable results.
What was once a serious burn on Kaye Adkins foot is healing nicely now because of a topical spray. With diabetes as a complication, the small but open wound had not healed after weeks of failed treatments.
Dr. Amalia Cochran with the university's Burn Care Center says, "With a wound that is open for several months, as this patient suffered prior to seeing us in our burn clinic, we worry about a pretty heavy bacterial load there."
But enter the evolutionary world of regenerative medicine, using almost a bedside stem cell technique that takes only about 15 minutes."
_____________________________________________________
And from LifeSiteNews:
Amazing first: leukemia patient completely cured with cord blood stem cells
"BERLIN, November 26, 2010 - Doctors associated with the German umbilical cord blood bank Vita 34 say that they have cured a child’s leukemia completely using an infusion of stem cells from umbilical cord blood.
The procedure was reportedly performed in 2005 on a four-year-old girl whose chemotherapy treatment had failed and who had a prognosis of only three months to live. The procedure was possible because the parents had decided to preserve their child’s umbilical cord blood at the time of birth.
After continuous monitoring of the child for five years now, with no sign of leukemia cells in her blood, doctors say that they have confirmed that the treatment worked."
As our friend Don Margolis often says, adult stem-cells are the greatest medicine in the history of man. It's tragic that our current President, for ideological reasons, chooses to spend his efforts on immoral and pointless Embryonic Stem Cell Research.
For a rundown of our posts on this subject, click here. And you can always visit our friend Don Margolis, whom we have called "The Best Stem Cell Blog" for more. Don follows all the latest adult stem-cell news, and has made it his life's work. God bless him!
From KSL in Salt Lake City:
Stem cell spray heals burns
A spray solution of a patient's own stem cells is healing their severe burns. So far, early experiments under a University of Utah pilot project are showing some remarkable results.
What was once a serious burn on Kaye Adkins foot is healing nicely now because of a topical spray. With diabetes as a complication, the small but open wound had not healed after weeks of failed treatments.
Dr. Amalia Cochran with the university's Burn Care Center says, "With a wound that is open for several months, as this patient suffered prior to seeing us in our burn clinic, we worry about a pretty heavy bacterial load there."
But enter the evolutionary world of regenerative medicine, using almost a bedside stem cell technique that takes only about 15 minutes."
_____________________________________________________
And from LifeSiteNews:
Amazing first: leukemia patient completely cured with cord blood stem cells
"BERLIN, November 26, 2010 - Doctors associated with the German umbilical cord blood bank Vita 34 say that they have cured a child’s leukemia completely using an infusion of stem cells from umbilical cord blood.
The procedure was reportedly performed in 2005 on a four-year-old girl whose chemotherapy treatment had failed and who had a prognosis of only three months to live. The procedure was possible because the parents had decided to preserve their child’s umbilical cord blood at the time of birth.
After continuous monitoring of the child for five years now, with no sign of leukemia cells in her blood, doctors say that they have confirmed that the treatment worked."
As our friend Don Margolis often says, adult stem-cells are the greatest medicine in the history of man. It's tragic that our current President, for ideological reasons, chooses to spend his efforts on immoral and pointless Embryonic Stem Cell Research.
For a rundown of our posts on this subject, click here. And you can always visit our friend Don Margolis, whom we have called "The Best Stem Cell Blog" for more. Don follows all the latest adult stem-cell news, and has made it his life's work. God bless him!
Monday, May 4, 2009
Will the FDA Kill Adult Stem Cell Medicine?
That's the title of a story in H+ Magazine, by Jeff Morris, AAMG and Stephen Coles, Md, Ph. D. The authors are interviewing Dr. Christopher J. Centeno, whose specialty is orthpedics. Dr. Centeno has been using adult stem-cells to treat his patients for over four years. The article begins:
"Within the next five years, it's quite possible that physicians will come into routine possession of a remarkable set of tools — a brand new way of dealing with the frailty and disabilities of aging. The tool kit is autologous stem cells derived from the patients themselves, amplified in culture, and infused back into the patient according to a precise protocol. It would be such a leap from today's medical diagnostics and treatments; it could only be called revolutionary.
The purpose of employing autologous cells is to prevent rejection of histo-incompatible cells by the patient's immune system. But it's also possible that these new therapies could slip from our grasp, at least in the US. If we're not careful, these therapies could become the exclusive domain of the pharmaceutical industry, as regulated by the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This could push the availability of this tool kit 15 to 20 years into the future. The opportunity-cost in terms of morbidity and mortality could be catastrophic....
The story then tells a little about Dr. Centeno:
Prior to becoming involved in stem-cell research, Dr. Centeno was already an international expert and specialist in musculoskeletal, spinal, and neurologic injury. Having trained at the Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Medical Center, and the Institute for Rehabilitation Research, he is an M.D. who is double-boarded in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation as well as Pain Medicine. Dr. Centano has seen the results that are achievable in an orthopedic context. 'We've done this for four years for patients with orthopedic conditions. So, as a test case, we know it can work safely and effectively.'”
What's the danger? The FDA wants to classify your own stem-cells as a drug. We blogged on this back on March 26, 2009. The story continues:
"To Dr. Centeno, it is inconceivable that a person’s own cells could be classified as a drug — but that's exactly what the FDA wants to do. “The FDA is working to protect the interests of Big Pharma,” he says. 'If we wanted to insert some kind of new genes into these cells, we might all agree that could be a drug — a new entity. But what we're doing is simply culturing a person’s own cells. Most of the cells are bone-marrow derived; you can get them from synovial fluid in the knee or from other locations....'
The stakes for the pharmaceutical industry are obviously also high. 'You’re talking about replacing $60 billion in drug- and device-care with $6 billion in stem-cell care,' Dr. Centeno observes. The end result will either be individual physicians owning and controlling labs, or, says Dr. Centeno, 'It will all be controlled by Big Pharma, and innovation will move at a snail’s pace.'”
Dr. Centeno heads an organization created to define guidelines and standards for American adult-stem cell treatmet called The American Stem Cell Therapy Association (ASCTA). Their website is here.
h/t Instapundit.
Let's pray "The Science President" instructs his FDA not to get in the way of REAL science!
__________________________________________________________
In other great adult stem-cell news, our friend Don Margolis has a story about a lady who has been treated with her own adult stem-cells for COPD (serious lung disease). The lady had been a smoker, and had been on oxygen 24/7 until being treated last December. She is now totally off oxygen. Pray God this sucess continues!
"Within the next five years, it's quite possible that physicians will come into routine possession of a remarkable set of tools — a brand new way of dealing with the frailty and disabilities of aging. The tool kit is autologous stem cells derived from the patients themselves, amplified in culture, and infused back into the patient according to a precise protocol. It would be such a leap from today's medical diagnostics and treatments; it could only be called revolutionary.
The purpose of employing autologous cells is to prevent rejection of histo-incompatible cells by the patient's immune system. But it's also possible that these new therapies could slip from our grasp, at least in the US. If we're not careful, these therapies could become the exclusive domain of the pharmaceutical industry, as regulated by the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This could push the availability of this tool kit 15 to 20 years into the future. The opportunity-cost in terms of morbidity and mortality could be catastrophic....
The story then tells a little about Dr. Centeno:
Prior to becoming involved in stem-cell research, Dr. Centeno was already an international expert and specialist in musculoskeletal, spinal, and neurologic injury. Having trained at the Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Medical Center, and the Institute for Rehabilitation Research, he is an M.D. who is double-boarded in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation as well as Pain Medicine. Dr. Centano has seen the results that are achievable in an orthopedic context. 'We've done this for four years for patients with orthopedic conditions. So, as a test case, we know it can work safely and effectively.'”
What's the danger? The FDA wants to classify your own stem-cells as a drug. We blogged on this back on March 26, 2009. The story continues:
"To Dr. Centeno, it is inconceivable that a person’s own cells could be classified as a drug — but that's exactly what the FDA wants to do. “The FDA is working to protect the interests of Big Pharma,” he says. 'If we wanted to insert some kind of new genes into these cells, we might all agree that could be a drug — a new entity. But what we're doing is simply culturing a person’s own cells. Most of the cells are bone-marrow derived; you can get them from synovial fluid in the knee or from other locations....'
The stakes for the pharmaceutical industry are obviously also high. 'You’re talking about replacing $60 billion in drug- and device-care with $6 billion in stem-cell care,' Dr. Centeno observes. The end result will either be individual physicians owning and controlling labs, or, says Dr. Centeno, 'It will all be controlled by Big Pharma, and innovation will move at a snail’s pace.'”
Dr. Centeno heads an organization created to define guidelines and standards for American adult-stem cell treatmet called The American Stem Cell Therapy Association (ASCTA). Their website is here.
h/t Instapundit.
Let's pray "The Science President" instructs his FDA not to get in the way of REAL science!
__________________________________________________________
In other great adult stem-cell news, our friend Don Margolis has a story about a lady who has been treated with her own adult stem-cells for COPD (serious lung disease). The lady had been a smoker, and had been on oxygen 24/7 until being treated last December. She is now totally off oxygen. Pray God this sucess continues!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Adult Stem-Cell UPDATE: The Blind can Now See With Their Own Stem-Cells!
Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! From LifeSiteNews:
"For individuals blinded by chemical burns, the ever advancing field of adult stem-cell research has provided yet another astonishing cure – giving them sight through their own stem cells.
Italian researchers have reported developing a very successful therapy to cure those who were either blinded, or whose vision was severely impaired, thanks to chemical burns to their corneas. Such burns can come about through handling everything from toxic cleaning substances at home to heavy-duty chemicals at work....
In a study published by the New England Journal of Medicine, scientists treated 107 eyes of 106 patients with stem cells derived from the limbus, the rim around the cornea, where stem cells are naturally produced by the body to do repairs on the cornea.
The researchers derived the stem cells from a patient’s healthy eye, and then encouraged them to multiply. Once they had enough stem cells, they removed the scar tissue over the bad eye, and then grafted the stem cells on over the site of the cornea, which then began to generate new corneal tissues.
After 12-24 months had passed, these grafts were then followed up by corrective surgeries.
One patient had severe alkali burns on both his eyes from 1948. Researchers, however, were able to adapt and derive limbal stem-cell cultures with biopsied tissue taken from the patient’s left eye. The therapy managed to successfully restore both corneal surfaces, transitioning the man from blindness to having an almost normal, combined vision of close to 20/30. Follow-ups after two and five years showed that both eyes were stable after the treatment.
In all, the treatment had a 76.6 percent success rate, sustained over the past decade. The researchers note that all their failure cases occurred within the first year of treatment. In all 82 of 107 eyes had successful cures, with partial success in 14 others.
"They were incredibly happy. Some said it was a miracle," one of the study leaders, Graziella Pellegrini of the University of Modena's Center for Regenerative Medicine in Italy, told the Associated Press. "It was not a miracle. It was simply a technique."
The Family Research Council blog has more, including ABC News video about the case. We also repeat what has become one of our mantras at "A Shepherd's Voice" ever since Prop 71 in California passed:
"Are California voters having second thoughts yet about shelling out $3 billion + for immoral & unproven embryonic stem cell research, which has yet to show a single cure, while adult stem cells are curing people left and right?"
We must point out it was idiots in the press (like ABC News) that were foursquare behind ESCR, and painted those of us opposed to it as anti-science bigots.
Our friend Don Margolis has been beating the adult stem-cell drum (he refers to them as "repair stem-cells") for years, calling them the greatest medicine ever known to mankind, and it looks like he is right. Visit his website: http://donmargolis.com/blog/ and check out the list of diseases and conditions being treated with adult stem-cells.
"For individuals blinded by chemical burns, the ever advancing field of adult stem-cell research has provided yet another astonishing cure – giving them sight through their own stem cells.
Italian researchers have reported developing a very successful therapy to cure those who were either blinded, or whose vision was severely impaired, thanks to chemical burns to their corneas. Such burns can come about through handling everything from toxic cleaning substances at home to heavy-duty chemicals at work....
In a study published by the New England Journal of Medicine, scientists treated 107 eyes of 106 patients with stem cells derived from the limbus, the rim around the cornea, where stem cells are naturally produced by the body to do repairs on the cornea.
The researchers derived the stem cells from a patient’s healthy eye, and then encouraged them to multiply. Once they had enough stem cells, they removed the scar tissue over the bad eye, and then grafted the stem cells on over the site of the cornea, which then began to generate new corneal tissues.
After 12-24 months had passed, these grafts were then followed up by corrective surgeries.
One patient had severe alkali burns on both his eyes from 1948. Researchers, however, were able to adapt and derive limbal stem-cell cultures with biopsied tissue taken from the patient’s left eye. The therapy managed to successfully restore both corneal surfaces, transitioning the man from blindness to having an almost normal, combined vision of close to 20/30. Follow-ups after two and five years showed that both eyes were stable after the treatment.
In all, the treatment had a 76.6 percent success rate, sustained over the past decade. The researchers note that all their failure cases occurred within the first year of treatment. In all 82 of 107 eyes had successful cures, with partial success in 14 others.
"They were incredibly happy. Some said it was a miracle," one of the study leaders, Graziella Pellegrini of the University of Modena's Center for Regenerative Medicine in Italy, told the Associated Press. "It was not a miracle. It was simply a technique."
The Family Research Council blog has more, including ABC News video about the case. We also repeat what has become one of our mantras at "A Shepherd's Voice" ever since Prop 71 in California passed:
"Are California voters having second thoughts yet about shelling out $3 billion + for immoral & unproven embryonic stem cell research, which has yet to show a single cure, while adult stem cells are curing people left and right?"
We must point out it was idiots in the press (like ABC News) that were foursquare behind ESCR, and painted those of us opposed to it as anti-science bigots.
Our friend Don Margolis has been beating the adult stem-cell drum (he refers to them as "repair stem-cells") for years, calling them the greatest medicine ever known to mankind, and it looks like he is right. Visit his website: http://donmargolis.com/blog/ and check out the list of diseases and conditions being treated with adult stem-cells.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Adult Stem-Cell UPDATE: "This could be the biggest revolution in cardiovascular medicine in my lifetime.''
More great adult stem-cell news. This story is from the Telegraph:
'''The results are striking,' said Professor Roberto Bolli, one of the research leaders from the University of Louisville in the US. ''While we do not yet know why the improvement occurs, we have no doubt now that ejection fraction increased and scarring decreased.'
''If these results hold up in future studies, I believe this could be the biggest revolution in cardiovascular medicine in my lifetime.''
The ground-breaking new treatment involved extracting cardiac stem cells (CSCs) - self-renewing cells that rebuild hearts and arteries - from patients during bypass surgery.
The cells were purified and grown in the laboratory before being injected back into damaged regions of the patients' hearts four months later.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports more good news. Geron is abandoning the field of embryonic stem-cell research:
"The company doing the first government-approved test of embryonic stem cell therapy is discontinuing further stem cell work..."
UPDATE: Hah! The great Wesley Smith on Geron's pullout:
"This is an atom bomb of a story that will have a serious effect on the entire regenerative medical sector. And it should embarrass the critics of President Bush; the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which bragged about its part in funding a scientist involved in the research; and, perhaps most of all, the fawning media that have acted as press agent for both the field generally, and Geron specifically."
And we repeat one of our mantras here at A Shepherd's Voice: "Are California voters having second thoughts yet about shelling out $3 billion + for immoral & unproven embryonic stem cell research, which has yet to show a single cure, while adult stem cells are curing people left and right?"
You can read all our adult stem-cell posts here.
'''The results are striking,' said Professor Roberto Bolli, one of the research leaders from the University of Louisville in the US. ''While we do not yet know why the improvement occurs, we have no doubt now that ejection fraction increased and scarring decreased.'
''If these results hold up in future studies, I believe this could be the biggest revolution in cardiovascular medicine in my lifetime.''
The ground-breaking new treatment involved extracting cardiac stem cells (CSCs) - self-renewing cells that rebuild hearts and arteries - from patients during bypass surgery.
The cells were purified and grown in the laboratory before being injected back into damaged regions of the patients' hearts four months later.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports more good news. Geron is abandoning the field of embryonic stem-cell research:
"The company doing the first government-approved test of embryonic stem cell therapy is discontinuing further stem cell work..."
UPDATE: Hah! The great Wesley Smith on Geron's pullout:
"This is an atom bomb of a story that will have a serious effect on the entire regenerative medical sector. And it should embarrass the critics of President Bush; the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which bragged about its part in funding a scientist involved in the research; and, perhaps most of all, the fawning media that have acted as press agent for both the field generally, and Geron specifically."
And we repeat one of our mantras here at A Shepherd's Voice: "Are California voters having second thoughts yet about shelling out $3 billion + for immoral & unproven embryonic stem cell research, which has yet to show a single cure, while adult stem cells are curing people left and right?"
You can read all our adult stem-cell posts here.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Adult Stem-Cell UPDATE: HIV-Postive Man Cured by Transplant
We just can't keep up with all the great adult stem-cell news. The latest: an HIV-postive man in Berlin has been cured. From Fox News:
"Doctors believe a 42-year-old man was cured of HIV after receiving a stem cell transplant in 2007, the medical journal Blood reported.
Timothy Ray Brown, an HIV-positive American living in Germany, had leukemia and was undergoing chemotherapy, when he received a transplant of stem cells from a donor carrying a rare, inherited gene mutation associated with a reduced risk HIV.
The transplant appeared to wipe out both diseases, giving hope to doctors. Brown’s case was published in a February 2009 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
"The patient is fine," Dr. Gero Hutter, who treated Brown, of Charite Universitatsmedizin Berlin in Germany said in 2009. "Today, two years after his transplantation, he is still without any signs of HIV disease and without antiretroviral medication."
We repeat what has been one of our mantras here at "A Shepherd's Voice" ever since Prop 71 in California passed:
"Are California voters having second thoughts yet about shelling out $3 billion + for immoral & unproven embryonic stem cell research, which has yet to show a single cure, while adult stem cells are curing people left and right?"
Meanwhile, our President funds this useless and immoral embryonic reasearch.
For all of our stem -cell posts, go here, and, as always, check out the blog of Don Margolis for the latest adult stem-cell (or as Don calls them "repair stem cell") news.
"Doctors believe a 42-year-old man was cured of HIV after receiving a stem cell transplant in 2007, the medical journal Blood reported.
Timothy Ray Brown, an HIV-positive American living in Germany, had leukemia and was undergoing chemotherapy, when he received a transplant of stem cells from a donor carrying a rare, inherited gene mutation associated with a reduced risk HIV.
The transplant appeared to wipe out both diseases, giving hope to doctors. Brown’s case was published in a February 2009 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
"The patient is fine," Dr. Gero Hutter, who treated Brown, of Charite Universitatsmedizin Berlin in Germany said in 2009. "Today, two years after his transplantation, he is still without any signs of HIV disease and without antiretroviral medication."
We repeat what has been one of our mantras here at "A Shepherd's Voice" ever since Prop 71 in California passed:
"Are California voters having second thoughts yet about shelling out $3 billion + for immoral & unproven embryonic stem cell research, which has yet to show a single cure, while adult stem cells are curing people left and right?"
Meanwhile, our President funds this useless and immoral embryonic reasearch.
For all of our stem -cell posts, go here, and, as always, check out the blog of Don Margolis for the latest adult stem-cell (or as Don calls them "repair stem cell") news.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
The Party of Death Gets Down To It
Well, "Catholics" for Obama, you didn't have to wait long.
From today's Washington Post:
Obama Positioned to Quickly Reverse Bush Actions
Stem Cell, Climate Rules Among Targets of President-Elect's Team
Transition advisers to President-elect Barack Obama have compiled a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be swiftly undone to reverse White House policies on climate change, stem cell research, reproductive rights and other issues, according to congressional Democrats, campaign aides and experts working with the transition team...
Obama himself has signaled, for example, that he intends to reverse Bush's controversial limit on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, a decision that scientists say has restrained research into some of the most promising avenues for defeating a wide array of diseases, such as Parkinson's. (This statement attributed to unnamed "scientists" is utterly false. The biggest names in the field, such as Professor Ian Wilmot who cloned Dolly the sheep and James Thomson, who first isolated embryonic stem-cells. have abandoned embryonic stem-cell research because it's fruitless. They are now using other techniques which actually work).
But Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) said that during Obama's final swing through her state in October, she reminded him that because the restrictions were never included in legislation, Obama "can simply reverse them by executive order." Obama, she said, "was very receptive to that." Opponents of the restrictions have already drafted an executive order he could sign.
The new president is also expected to lift a so-called global gag rule barring international family planning groups that receive U.S. aid from counseling women about the availability of abortion, even in countries where the procedure is legal, said Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. When Bill Clinton took office in 1993, he rescinded the Reagan-era regulation, known as the Mexico City policy, but Bush reimposed it.
"We have been communicating with his transition staff" almost daily, Richards said. "We expect to see a real change."
It's no surprise that Planned Parenthood wants more abortions in the third world. It's a little surprising that a President-Elect of African descent would go along with it.
What is also rationally inexplicable is the push for more embryonic stem-cell research, when every single medical treatment and advance has been made using adult stem cells.
While not rationally explicable, the grandiose claims made by the proponents of embryonic stem-cell research can, however, be understood as an outlet for the terrible pressures felt by women who have had abortions and by the men and women who have enabled abortion. The desperate hope for some sort of transcendental "cures" derived from human embryos is needed as a psychological solace for the killing of the unborn child. The hope is that maybe if some terrible disease is cured using embryonic stem-cells, that will somehow justify the decision to kill the unborn child. That's why they continue to support ESCR instead of adult stem-cell research, despite the fact that all the cures come through adult stem-cells.
h/t Threshing Grain
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
From today's Washington Post:
Obama Positioned to Quickly Reverse Bush Actions
Stem Cell, Climate Rules Among Targets of President-Elect's Team
Transition advisers to President-elect Barack Obama have compiled a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be swiftly undone to reverse White House policies on climate change, stem cell research, reproductive rights and other issues, according to congressional Democrats, campaign aides and experts working with the transition team...
Obama himself has signaled, for example, that he intends to reverse Bush's controversial limit on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, a decision that scientists say has restrained research into some of the most promising avenues for defeating a wide array of diseases, such as Parkinson's. (This statement attributed to unnamed "scientists" is utterly false. The biggest names in the field, such as Professor Ian Wilmot who cloned Dolly the sheep and James Thomson, who first isolated embryonic stem-cells. have abandoned embryonic stem-cell research because it's fruitless. They are now using other techniques which actually work).
But Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) said that during Obama's final swing through her state in October, she reminded him that because the restrictions were never included in legislation, Obama "can simply reverse them by executive order." Obama, she said, "was very receptive to that." Opponents of the restrictions have already drafted an executive order he could sign.
The new president is also expected to lift a so-called global gag rule barring international family planning groups that receive U.S. aid from counseling women about the availability of abortion, even in countries where the procedure is legal, said Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. When Bill Clinton took office in 1993, he rescinded the Reagan-era regulation, known as the Mexico City policy, but Bush reimposed it.
"We have been communicating with his transition staff" almost daily, Richards said. "We expect to see a real change."
It's no surprise that Planned Parenthood wants more abortions in the third world. It's a little surprising that a President-Elect of African descent would go along with it.
What is also rationally inexplicable is the push for more embryonic stem-cell research, when every single medical treatment and advance has been made using adult stem cells.
While not rationally explicable, the grandiose claims made by the proponents of embryonic stem-cell research can, however, be understood as an outlet for the terrible pressures felt by women who have had abortions and by the men and women who have enabled abortion. The desperate hope for some sort of transcendental "cures" derived from human embryos is needed as a psychological solace for the killing of the unborn child. The hope is that maybe if some terrible disease is cured using embryonic stem-cells, that will somehow justify the decision to kill the unborn child. That's why they continue to support ESCR instead of adult stem-cell research, despite the fact that all the cures come through adult stem-cells.
h/t Threshing Grain
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
Friday, March 18, 2011
Adult Stem-Cell Update: Heart Attack Damage Reversed
You can read the American Heart Association's press release on the treatment here.
From Fierce Biotech Research:
"Writing in the journal Circulation Research: Journal of the American Heart Association, scientists show in a small study that stem cell therapy can reverse heart damage in patients with enlarged hearts due to heart attacks. In addition, the benefits from the stem cell injections appear to be three times better than that offered by current medical treatments, according to a release. Scar tissue decreased and heart function improved, the scientists from the University of Miami said.
In an interview with the Miami Herald, Joshua Hare, the study's lead author and director of the UM Medical School's Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute, seemed pumped about the heart development.
'That's the Holy Grail, the quest the whole field has been pursuing for close to a decade, and this is evidence we're on the right track,' Hare told the Herald.
A participant in the small eight-person trial, Max Eaton, 68, seconded that emotion. 'I feel very grateful,' Eaton told the Herald. 'Almost certainly, I would be deceased or in much worse shape had I not had the opportunity to be in this program.'"
And would these be Embryonic Stem Cells? Not on your life. Two different times of bone marrow stem-cells. Go here for all of our posts on amazing adult stem-cell treatments.
It's been one of our mantras here at "A Shepherd's Voice: "Are California voters having second thoughts yet about shelling out $3 billion + for immoral & unproven embryonic stem cell research, which has yet to show a single cure, while adult stem cells are curing people left and right?"
Readers interested in the latest amazing stem-cell treatments should visit the blog of Don Margolis. He's been on the story for years, and has just about daily updates.
From Fierce Biotech Research:
"Writing in the journal Circulation Research: Journal of the American Heart Association, scientists show in a small study that stem cell therapy can reverse heart damage in patients with enlarged hearts due to heart attacks. In addition, the benefits from the stem cell injections appear to be three times better than that offered by current medical treatments, according to a release. Scar tissue decreased and heart function improved, the scientists from the University of Miami said.
In an interview with the Miami Herald, Joshua Hare, the study's lead author and director of the UM Medical School's Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute, seemed pumped about the heart development.
'That's the Holy Grail, the quest the whole field has been pursuing for close to a decade, and this is evidence we're on the right track,' Hare told the Herald.
A participant in the small eight-person trial, Max Eaton, 68, seconded that emotion. 'I feel very grateful,' Eaton told the Herald. 'Almost certainly, I would be deceased or in much worse shape had I not had the opportunity to be in this program.'"
And would these be Embryonic Stem Cells? Not on your life. Two different times of bone marrow stem-cells. Go here for all of our posts on amazing adult stem-cell treatments.
It's been one of our mantras here at "A Shepherd's Voice: "Are California voters having second thoughts yet about shelling out $3 billion + for immoral & unproven embryonic stem cell research, which has yet to show a single cure, while adult stem cells are curing people left and right?"
Readers interested in the latest amazing stem-cell treatments should visit the blog of Don Margolis. He's been on the story for years, and has just about daily updates.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Adult Stem-Cell UPDATE: Researchers Grow Heart From Human Skin Cells
One of our long-time mantras here at "A Shepherd's Voice" is "Are California voters having second thoughts yet about shelling out $3 billion + for immoral & unproven embryonic stem cell research, which has yet to show a single cure, while adult stem cells are curing people left and right?"
There have been too many adult-stem cell advances to count, but we just ran across this one today. It's an August 14 report from io9.com:
Breakthrough: Scientists build a beating mouse heart with human tissue
Breakthrough: Scientists build a beating mouse heart with human tissue
In a major scientific first, a team of developmental biologists has built a functional mouse heart from human tissues. The results herald a future where specific patches of heart muscle – or even the whole organ – could be grown for transplantation.
The work, which was led by University of Pittsburgh's Lei Yang and is recounted in the latest issue of Nature Communications, hinges on the combination of two major regenerative medicine techniques. The first is the use of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells). iPS cells are mature, differentiated cells (liver cells, for instance, or skin cells) that have been reprogrammed into an undifferentiated state.RELATED
Like embryonic stem cells, iPS cells can be stimulated by growth factors to give rise to a wide range of different cell types; just because an iPS cell started out as, say, a renal cell expelled in the urine, doesn't mean it can't be coaxed into becoming dental tissue (fun fact: a team of researchers recently did exactly that) – it just needs the right set of instructions. Yang and his colleagues took cells from a small biopsy of human skin, reverse-engineered them into iPS cells, then instructed them to produce what are called multipotential cardiovascular progenitor cells. These "MCP cells," as they're called, are the precursors to three very important types of heart cell: cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells, and smooth muscle cells."
The work, which was led by University of Pittsburgh's Lei Yang and is recounted in the latest issue of Nature Communications, hinges on the combination of two major regenerative medicine techniques. The first is the use of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells). iPS cells are mature, differentiated cells (liver cells, for instance, or skin cells) that have been reprogrammed into an undifferentiated state.RELATED
Like embryonic stem cells, iPS cells can be stimulated by growth factors to give rise to a wide range of different cell types; just because an iPS cell started out as, say, a renal cell expelled in the urine, doesn't mean it can't be coaxed into becoming dental tissue (fun fact: a team of researchers recently did exactly that) – it just needs the right set of instructions. Yang and his colleagues took cells from a small biopsy of human skin, reverse-engineered them into iPS cells, then instructed them to produce what are called multipotential cardiovascular progenitor cells. These "MCP cells," as they're called, are the precursors to three very important types of heart cell: cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells, and smooth muscle cells."
The same article had an embedded link to another adult stem-cell advance:
Scientists grow teeth from human urine because why the hell not
"A new study shows that stem cells extracted from urine can be turned into rudimentary tooth-like structures."
"A new study shows that stem cells extracted from urine can be turned into rudimentary tooth-like structures."
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
If Obama Can't Find "Common Ground" Here, He Won't Find it Anywhere
Jack Smith follows up on the NIH (that is, President Barack Obama's) new stem cell guidelines.
Here is today's satement from the USCCB:
"CARDINAL RIGALI CRITICIZES FINAL NIH GUIDELINES FOR DESTRUCTIVE STEM CELL RESEARCH
WASHINGTON—Cardinal Justin Rigali, Chairman of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, reacted today to final guidelines for human embryonic stem cell research issued yesterday by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The text of his statement follows:
“In April I criticized the NIH’s draft guidelines for destructive embryonic stem cell research, saying that under these guidelines ‘federal tax dollars will be used to encourage destruction of living embryonic human beings for stem cell research – including human beings who otherwise would have survived and been born.’
“The final guidelines issued yesterday are even broader. Parents who are asked to consider having their embryonic children destroyed for research will not even have to be informed about all their other options – only about the options that happen to be available at their particular fertility clinic. Moreover, under the final guidelines, stem cell lines that existed previously or that are produced in foreign countries may be made eligible for federally funded research even if they were obtained in ways that violate one or more of the NIH's own informed consent requirements.
“The comments of tens of thousands of Americans opposing the destruction of innocent human life for stem cell research were simply ignored in this process. Even comments filed by the Catholic bishops’ conference and others against specific abuses in the draft guidelines were not addressed. For example, federally funded researchers will be allowed to insert human embryonic stem cells into the embryos of animal species other than primates; federal grants will be available even to researchers who themselves destroyed human embryos to obtain the stem cells for their research. Existing federal law against funding research in which human embryos are harmed or destroyed is not given due respect here.
“This debate now shifts to Congress, where some members have said even this policy does not go far enough in treating some human beings as objects to be created, manipulated and destroyed for others’ use. I hope Americans concerned about this issue will write to their elected representatives, urging them not to codify or further expand this unethical policy.”
For more information about the USCCB’s “Oppose Destructive Stem Cell Research” campaign, visit www.usccb.org/stemcellcampaign. Cardinal Rigali’s April 21 statement on the draft guidelines is at www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2009/09-087.shtml. The USCCB’s official comment letter of May 22 is at www.usccb.org/prolife/NIHcomments.pdf. "
Embryonic stem cells don't work, kill the unborn, cause tumors when they are used, and are unnecessary, given the successes of adult-stem cells. Obama, and his supporters claim he wants "common ground." Here was a perfect opportunity: he could have embraced the pro-life side, and, at the same time follow the leading contemporary scientists. He chose not to, despite the overwhelming success of adult stem-cells. If he will not find "common ground" here, he will not find it anywhere. He is, as Mark Steyn said, an abortion absolutist. There is no common ground.
Here is today's satement from the USCCB:
"CARDINAL RIGALI CRITICIZES FINAL NIH GUIDELINES FOR DESTRUCTIVE STEM CELL RESEARCH
WASHINGTON—Cardinal Justin Rigali, Chairman of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, reacted today to final guidelines for human embryonic stem cell research issued yesterday by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The text of his statement follows:
“In April I criticized the NIH’s draft guidelines for destructive embryonic stem cell research, saying that under these guidelines ‘federal tax dollars will be used to encourage destruction of living embryonic human beings for stem cell research – including human beings who otherwise would have survived and been born.’
“The final guidelines issued yesterday are even broader. Parents who are asked to consider having their embryonic children destroyed for research will not even have to be informed about all their other options – only about the options that happen to be available at their particular fertility clinic. Moreover, under the final guidelines, stem cell lines that existed previously or that are produced in foreign countries may be made eligible for federally funded research even if they were obtained in ways that violate one or more of the NIH's own informed consent requirements.
“The comments of tens of thousands of Americans opposing the destruction of innocent human life for stem cell research were simply ignored in this process. Even comments filed by the Catholic bishops’ conference and others against specific abuses in the draft guidelines were not addressed. For example, federally funded researchers will be allowed to insert human embryonic stem cells into the embryos of animal species other than primates; federal grants will be available even to researchers who themselves destroyed human embryos to obtain the stem cells for their research. Existing federal law against funding research in which human embryos are harmed or destroyed is not given due respect here.
“This debate now shifts to Congress, where some members have said even this policy does not go far enough in treating some human beings as objects to be created, manipulated and destroyed for others’ use. I hope Americans concerned about this issue will write to their elected representatives, urging them not to codify or further expand this unethical policy.”
For more information about the USCCB’s “Oppose Destructive Stem Cell Research” campaign, visit www.usccb.org/stemcellcampaign. Cardinal Rigali’s April 21 statement on the draft guidelines is at www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2009/09-087.shtml. The USCCB’s official comment letter of May 22 is at www.usccb.org/prolife/NIHcomments.pdf. "
Embryonic stem cells don't work, kill the unborn, cause tumors when they are used, and are unnecessary, given the successes of adult-stem cells. Obama, and his supporters claim he wants "common ground." Here was a perfect opportunity: he could have embraced the pro-life side, and, at the same time follow the leading contemporary scientists. He chose not to, despite the overwhelming success of adult stem-cells. If he will not find "common ground" here, he will not find it anywhere. He is, as Mark Steyn said, an abortion absolutist. There is no common ground.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Adult Stem-Cell Update: Patient's new Windpipe Grown From Own Stem-Cells
Now for some good medical news. We have not blogged much about adult stem-cell treatments lately because there seem to be so many, but this caught our eye:
"Surgeons working at Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden have taken a huge step forward for regenerative medicine by successfully executing the world’s first synthetic organ transplant. The donor-less transplant saved the life of a 36-year-old cancer patient, who is doing well now after having received a new windpipe grown from his own stem cells.
This story is about as international as it gets: The Eritrean patient, Andemariam Teklesenbet Beyene, was pursuing his doctorate in geology in Iceland when his trachea was consumed by an inoperable tumor that grew so bad that it was actually blocking his breathing. So 3-D scans of his windpipe were sent to scientists at University College London, which crafted a glass scaffold that was a perfect match for Beyene’s trachea and two main bronchi.
The scaffold was in turn was sent to Sweden, where it was soaked in stem cells from Beyene’s own bone marrow. The stem cells took hold and within just two days had filled the scaffold, creating a new trachea that is, biologically speaking, Beyene’s own tissue. A 12-hour operation by an Italian surgeon specializing in trachea operations removed Beyene’s windpipe and all signs of the cancer and then replaced it with the new, lab-grown organ.
That was a month ago. Today, Beyene is recovering well. Because the organ was grown from his own cells, there is no risk of his body rejecting it and no need for the harsh regimen of anti-rejection drugs that usually go hand in hand with an organ transplant."
Praise God! Emphasis above added.
As always, we advise readers to check out the blog of Don Margolis, who has been beating the drum for adult stem-cells (which Don refers to, probably more accurately, as "repair stem cells') for years.
For all of our posts on adult stem-cell research and cures, go here. And we repeat one of our mantras here at A Shepherd's Voice: "Are California voters having second thoughts yet about shelling out $3 billion + for immoral & unproven embryonic stem cell research, which has yet to show a single cure, while adult stem cells are curing people left and right?"
h/t Instapundit
"Surgeons working at Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden have taken a huge step forward for regenerative medicine by successfully executing the world’s first synthetic organ transplant. The donor-less transplant saved the life of a 36-year-old cancer patient, who is doing well now after having received a new windpipe grown from his own stem cells.
This story is about as international as it gets: The Eritrean patient, Andemariam Teklesenbet Beyene, was pursuing his doctorate in geology in Iceland when his trachea was consumed by an inoperable tumor that grew so bad that it was actually blocking his breathing. So 3-D scans of his windpipe were sent to scientists at University College London, which crafted a glass scaffold that was a perfect match for Beyene’s trachea and two main bronchi.
The scaffold was in turn was sent to Sweden, where it was soaked in stem cells from Beyene’s own bone marrow. The stem cells took hold and within just two days had filled the scaffold, creating a new trachea that is, biologically speaking, Beyene’s own tissue. A 12-hour operation by an Italian surgeon specializing in trachea operations removed Beyene’s windpipe and all signs of the cancer and then replaced it with the new, lab-grown organ.
That was a month ago. Today, Beyene is recovering well. Because the organ was grown from his own cells, there is no risk of his body rejecting it and no need for the harsh regimen of anti-rejection drugs that usually go hand in hand with an organ transplant."
Praise God! Emphasis above added.
As always, we advise readers to check out the blog of Don Margolis, who has been beating the drum for adult stem-cells (which Don refers to, probably more accurately, as "repair stem cells') for years.
For all of our posts on adult stem-cell research and cures, go here. And we repeat one of our mantras here at A Shepherd's Voice: "Are California voters having second thoughts yet about shelling out $3 billion + for immoral & unproven embryonic stem cell research, which has yet to show a single cure, while adult stem cells are curing people left and right?"
h/t Instapundit
Friday, January 30, 2009
Adult Stem-Cell Update! And Thanks, President Bush!
From Reuters:Stem cell transplants show promise for MS: study
"By Julie Steenhuysen
CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. researchers have reversed multiple sclerosis symptoms in early stage patients by using bone marrow stem cell transplants to reset the immune system, they said on Thursday.
Some 81 percent of patients in the early phase study showed signs of improvement with the treatment, which used chemotherapy to destroy the immune system, and injections of the patient's bone marrow cells taken beforehand to rebuild it."
As readers of "A Shepherd's Voice" know this is just the latest in the cascade of treatments for diseases and conditions using adult stem-cells.
Why do we thank President Bush? Becuase his moral objection to government funded embryonic stem-cell research played a large part in encouraging businesses and research institutes to switch over to researching adult-stem cells, which turned out be where the treasure was buried.
The Calgary Herald covered this aspect of the issue today: "Results, not Bush, slowed embryonic stem cell research"
As always, Mr. Don Margolis has the latest stem-cell news, including the miraculous (of course, it's not really miraculous, it's just good science) multiple sclerosis story.
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
Monday, March 18, 2013
"Scam Cell": Will California Voters Learn From Proposition 71 Debacle?
It's been one of our mantras here at "A Shepherd's Voice": Are California voters having second thoughts yet about shelling out $3 billion + for immoral & unproven embryonic stem cell research, which has yet to show a single cure, while adult stem cells are curing people left and right?
Scam Cell
California’s embryonic stem-cell research institute fails to deliver.
14 March 2013
"The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the state’s controversial, $3 billion stem-cell research agency, has yet to follow recommendations from a December report by the Institute of Medicine, a division of the National Academy of Sciences. The report, which urged the agency to overhaul its board of directors, did not fully convey the magnitude of CIRM’s failure—but it did confirm that CIRM might be better described as Conflict of Interest Research Money. Almost all members of the CIRM board, investigators noted, “are interested parties with a personal or financial stake in the allocation of CIRM fundings.” In fact, CIRM directed a full 91 percent of its research funding to institutions with representatives on its governing board. Similarly, the CIRM board overruled the Institute’s own scientific reviewers, who twice rejected a proposal to fund a for-profit company on whose behalf CIRM founder Robert Klein had lobbied, and the board went ahead and gave the money to the company anyway. According to a Sacramento Bee report, “it was the first time in the board’s eight-year history that it approved an application twice rejected by reviewers....
Yet CIRM has been a scientific bust. It played no role in noteworthy medical-scientific advances of recent years, such as the construction of a new windpipe for a Colombian woman or the near-total restoration of sight for a man whose eyes sustained severe chemical damage in 1948. These were triumphs of adult stem-cell research. A ballpark figure for the number of life-saving cures and therapies CIRM has delivered is zero. But as a staffer said at a meeting of the Little Hoover Commission in 2009, CIRM was “getting money out the door,” as though this was a legitimate measure of success.
CIRM was always more about the money than the medicine. Klein cleverly wrote Prop. 71 to install himself as the institute’s chairman, and he freed it from almost all legislative oversight by requiring a 70 percent supermajority of both houses to make any structural or policy changes...”
Of course, the adult stem-cell success are now too many to list. And this week Lloyd Billingsley has an excellent article in City Journal about where all that $3 billion of taxpayers money went. There is only $859 million of the $3 billion left. and the $2.1 billion already spent has not cured a headache.
California’s embryonic stem-cell research institute fails to deliver.
14 March 2013
"The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the state’s controversial, $3 billion stem-cell research agency, has yet to follow recommendations from a December report by the Institute of Medicine, a division of the National Academy of Sciences. The report, which urged the agency to overhaul its board of directors, did not fully convey the magnitude of CIRM’s failure—but it did confirm that CIRM might be better described as Conflict of Interest Research Money. Almost all members of the CIRM board, investigators noted, “are interested parties with a personal or financial stake in the allocation of CIRM fundings.” In fact, CIRM directed a full 91 percent of its research funding to institutions with representatives on its governing board. Similarly, the CIRM board overruled the Institute’s own scientific reviewers, who twice rejected a proposal to fund a for-profit company on whose behalf CIRM founder Robert Klein had lobbied, and the board went ahead and gave the money to the company anyway. According to a Sacramento Bee report, “it was the first time in the board’s eight-year history that it approved an application twice rejected by reviewers....
Yet CIRM has been a scientific bust. It played no role in noteworthy medical-scientific advances of recent years, such as the construction of a new windpipe for a Colombian woman or the near-total restoration of sight for a man whose eyes sustained severe chemical damage in 1948. These were triumphs of adult stem-cell research. A ballpark figure for the number of life-saving cures and therapies CIRM has delivered is zero. But as a staffer said at a meeting of the Little Hoover Commission in 2009, CIRM was “getting money out the door,” as though this was a legitimate measure of success.
CIRM was always more about the money than the medicine. Klein cleverly wrote Prop. 71 to install himself as the institute’s chairman, and he freed it from almost all legislative oversight by requiring a 70 percent supermajority of both houses to make any structural or policy changes...”
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Adult Stem-Cell UPDATE
Our friend Don Margolis has lots of new information about adult stem-cell treatments.
Check out this excellent video from "The Texas Alliance for Life." It's about a man whose heart (damaged by a heart attack) was totally healed using adult stem-cells. The Texas Alliance For Life is promoting a couple of bills in the Texas State Legslature to establish a consortium to further adult stem-cell research, which (unlike embryonic stem-cell research) is morally sound and actually produces results. One of the things I had not known was that when Californians gave $3billion+ to Proposition 71, a stated goal of the ESCR backers was to produce just one treatment within 10 years. This, while adult stem-cells are treating and curing people just about weekly if not daily.
Check out this excellent video from "The Texas Alliance for Life." It's about a man whose heart (damaged by a heart attack) was totally healed using adult stem-cells. The Texas Alliance For Life is promoting a couple of bills in the Texas State Legslature to establish a consortium to further adult stem-cell research, which (unlike embryonic stem-cell research) is morally sound and actually produces results. One of the things I had not known was that when Californians gave $3billion+ to Proposition 71, a stated goal of the ESCR backers was to produce just one treatment within 10 years. This, while adult stem-cells are treating and curing people just about weekly if not daily.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Blind Children Now See...
You'll have to forgive us for falling behind on our Adult Stem-Cell coverage. But that's because so much is happening in the field it would be a full time job. That's why we thank heaven for Mr. Don Margolis.
From the Don Margolis website today:
"There seems to be a never ending supply of stories coming out about children who can’t see due to Optic Nerve Hypoplasia and then off they go to China where they receive repair stem cell treatment . Optic Nerve Hypoplasia is when the optic nerve doesn’t form correctly leaving a child blind. Until repair (adult) stem cell therapy came along, these blind children had no hope to ever see, there was no cure for this disorder."
Mr. Margolis also has the "Repair Stem Cell Institute" website. A sub-page on the site called "Stem-Cells 101" explains the difference between embryonic and Repair (adult) stem-cells, and why adult stem-cells work and embryonic stem-cells don't and probably can't.
From the Don Margolis website today:
"There seems to be a never ending supply of stories coming out about children who can’t see due to Optic Nerve Hypoplasia and then off they go to China where they receive repair stem cell treatment . Optic Nerve Hypoplasia is when the optic nerve doesn’t form correctly leaving a child blind. Until repair (adult) stem cell therapy came along, these blind children had no hope to ever see, there was no cure for this disorder."
Mr. Margolis also has the "Repair Stem Cell Institute" website. A sub-page on the site called "Stem-Cells 101" explains the difference between embryonic and Repair (adult) stem-cells, and why adult stem-cells work and embryonic stem-cells don't and probably can't.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH
The most ironic thing about the current situation is that pro-lifers have just been handed a weapon that has enormous power to win this battle. But that weapon will do no good unless we can get the word out about it. What is it? Knowledge.
Scientists have discovered a way of turning adult cells—specifically, adult skin cells—directly into stem cells, without creating an embryo. Robert Lanza, the chief science officer of the cloning company Advanced Cell Technologies, declared that “It’s a new era for stem cells.” He went on to state: “It’s the holy grail. It’s like turning lead into gold.” He’s referring to a new discovery made by research teams in Japan and Wisconsin.
According to Wired magazine: In an unprecedented feat of biological alchemy, researchers have turned human skin cells into stem cells that hold the same medical promise as controversial embryonic stem cells.Two teams of researchers—one led by Kyoto University’s Shinya Yamanaka, the other by the University of Wisconsin's Junying Yu—used a virus to add four new genes to skin cells. Thus transformed, the reprogrammed cells became capable of changing into nearly any cell type in the human body.
This discovery sent shock waves through the medical community. The new technique of deriving stem cells from adult skin cells was so revolutionary that even some of the biggest supporters of ESCR have changed their minds about it.
Remember Dolly? Dolly was the first cloned sheep. She was produced in 1997 by a team led by the English scientist Ian Wilmut. Professor Wilmut is a big supporter of stem cells and is perfectly willing to kill embryonic children to get them. He wanted his new cloning methods to be used to produce embryos so that their stem cells could be harvested. But in the wake of the new discovery, Professor Wilmut has abandoned cloning—not because he cares about killing embryos but because he recognizes how superior the new advance is. As he told the BBC:
The work which was described from Japan of using a technique to change cells from a patient directly into stem cells without making an embryo has got so much more potential.
But not everyone is willing to embrace the new technology. Some are still hell-bent on killing babies to get at their stem cells . . .
“The Game Isn’t Over” The Boston Globe notes that in spite of the new advance:
Harvard, with stem cell funding in excess of $60 million, intends to maintain full-throttle efforts to clone petri dish human embryos, from which to harvest stem cells. This work has so far not been successful, but Harvard scientists also will press ahead with creation of human stem cells from frozen embryos . . .The view that efforts to secure stem cells from human embryos should stay on course is one expressed well beyond Harvard.“It’s very early days, the game isn’t over,” said Christopher Scott, director of Stanford University’s Program on Stem Cells and Society. “It would be folly to shove other research in the drawer in favor of following this one new direction, however promising.”Said Ronald M. Green, professor of ethics at Dartmouth College: “Not to move forward with research” involving human embryos “would be grossly irresponsible.”
You and I both know that the forces of death will stop at nothing in their quest to destroy unborn life. Even when adult stem cells have proven their value over and over again, anti-life activists have insisted on killing embryos as part of their nightmare research program. Why? Because they don’t want to admit that the unborn are human beings worthy of respect and protection. If they admit that in the stem cell arena, they would have to admit it in others—especially abortion. That’s why they can’t let go of embryo research and why they will do anything it takes to get federal funding for it. And in the end they’ll win . . . unless people like us do something about it.
(courtesy CATHOLIC ANSWERS)
Scientists have discovered a way of turning adult cells—specifically, adult skin cells—directly into stem cells, without creating an embryo. Robert Lanza, the chief science officer of the cloning company Advanced Cell Technologies, declared that “It’s a new era for stem cells.” He went on to state: “It’s the holy grail. It’s like turning lead into gold.” He’s referring to a new discovery made by research teams in Japan and Wisconsin.
According to Wired magazine: In an unprecedented feat of biological alchemy, researchers have turned human skin cells into stem cells that hold the same medical promise as controversial embryonic stem cells.Two teams of researchers—one led by Kyoto University’s Shinya Yamanaka, the other by the University of Wisconsin's Junying Yu—used a virus to add four new genes to skin cells. Thus transformed, the reprogrammed cells became capable of changing into nearly any cell type in the human body.
This discovery sent shock waves through the medical community. The new technique of deriving stem cells from adult skin cells was so revolutionary that even some of the biggest supporters of ESCR have changed their minds about it.
Remember Dolly? Dolly was the first cloned sheep. She was produced in 1997 by a team led by the English scientist Ian Wilmut. Professor Wilmut is a big supporter of stem cells and is perfectly willing to kill embryonic children to get them. He wanted his new cloning methods to be used to produce embryos so that their stem cells could be harvested. But in the wake of the new discovery, Professor Wilmut has abandoned cloning—not because he cares about killing embryos but because he recognizes how superior the new advance is. As he told the BBC:
The work which was described from Japan of using a technique to change cells from a patient directly into stem cells without making an embryo has got so much more potential.
But not everyone is willing to embrace the new technology. Some are still hell-bent on killing babies to get at their stem cells . . .
“The Game Isn’t Over” The Boston Globe notes that in spite of the new advance:
Harvard, with stem cell funding in excess of $60 million, intends to maintain full-throttle efforts to clone petri dish human embryos, from which to harvest stem cells. This work has so far not been successful, but Harvard scientists also will press ahead with creation of human stem cells from frozen embryos . . .The view that efforts to secure stem cells from human embryos should stay on course is one expressed well beyond Harvard.“It’s very early days, the game isn’t over,” said Christopher Scott, director of Stanford University’s Program on Stem Cells and Society. “It would be folly to shove other research in the drawer in favor of following this one new direction, however promising.”Said Ronald M. Green, professor of ethics at Dartmouth College: “Not to move forward with research” involving human embryos “would be grossly irresponsible.”
You and I both know that the forces of death will stop at nothing in their quest to destroy unborn life. Even when adult stem cells have proven their value over and over again, anti-life activists have insisted on killing embryos as part of their nightmare research program. Why? Because they don’t want to admit that the unborn are human beings worthy of respect and protection. If they admit that in the stem cell arena, they would have to admit it in others—especially abortion. That’s why they can’t let go of embryo research and why they will do anything it takes to get federal funding for it. And in the end they’ll win . . . unless people like us do something about it.
(courtesy CATHOLIC ANSWERS)
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