Remember this headline:
Probably not (I didn’t.) As headlines go, that one is really weak. But the article was sound. It gave a primer on stem cells, the difference between pluripotent and multipotent cells and why Bush was right to veto a Democrat bill to fund embryonic stem cell research with federal dollars. Give it a day in court and tell me what you think.
Anyway, President Obama not only turned that Bush policy on its head, but took several shots at the Bush administration while he was doing it:
President Barack Obama urged researchers on Monday to follow science and not ideology as he abolished contentious Bush-era restraints on stem-cell research. "Our government has forced what I believe is a false choice between sound science and moral values," Obama declared as he signed documents changing U.S. science policy and removing what some researchers have said were shackles on their work.
"It is about ensuring that scientific data is never distorted or concealed to serve a political agenda – and that we make scientific decisions based on facts, not ideology," Obama said.
Researchers said the new president’s message was clear: Science, which once propelled men to the moon, again matters in American life.
When I was driving home today, I heard a woman with Parkinson’s Disease celebrating the decision, saying it might be the beginning of the end for Parkinson’s sufferers. I wonder if she has any opinion on this story:
"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," says lead author Dr. Michel Levesque.
The paper describes how Levesque’s team was able to isolate patient-derived neural stem cells, multiply them in vitro and ultimately differentiate them to produce mature neurons before they are reintroduced into the brain.
Man that’s fast! Obama’s already curing Parkinson’s Disease! Actually, that story is from last month and the success was made with adult stem cells. In fact, adult stem cells have produced essentially all the positive results in stem cell research. Embryonic stem cells have produced tumors.
And let’s not pretend it’s because there has been a ban on embryonic stem cell research. There hasn’t. There has been a ban on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. The fact is, adult stem cells produce better results without the moral dilemma. You can even turn an adult stem cell into an embryonic stem cell, making the destruction of embryos totally unnecessary. U.S. News even reported "Why Embryonic Stem Cells Are Obsolete":
To date, most of the stem cell triumphs that the public hears about involve the infusion of adult stem cells. We’ve just recently seen separate research reports of patients with spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis benefiting from adult stem cell therapy. These cells have the advantage of being the patient’s natural own, and the worst they seem to do after infusion is die off without bringing the hoped-for benefit. They do not have the awesome but dangerous quality of eternal life characteristic of embryonic stem cells.
A second kind of stem cell that has triumphed is an entirely new creation called iPS (short for induced pluripotent stem cell), a blockbuster discovery made in late 2007. These cells are created by reprogramming DNA from adult skin. The iPS cells are embryonic-like in that they can turn into any cell in the body—and so bypass the need for embryos or eggs. In late February, scientists reported on iPS cells that had been transformed into mature nerve cells. While these cells might become a choice for patient therapy in time, scientists are playing this down for now. Why? These embryonic-like cells also come with the risk of cancer.
James Thomson, the stem cell pioneer from the University of Wisconsin who was the first to grow human embryonic stem cells in 1998, is an independent codiscoverer of iPS cells along with Japanese scientists. Already these reprogrammed cells have eclipsed the value of those harvested from embryos, he has said, because of significantly lower cost, ease of production, and genetic identity with the patient. They also bring unique application to medical and pharmaceutical research, because cells cultivated from patients with certain diseases readily become laboratory models for developing and testing therapy. That iPS cells overcome ethical concerns about creating and sacrificing embryos is an added plus.
In spite of all these successes, the Obama administration and liberals across America insist the future of medicine lies in the destruction of life. And now, you and I get to pay for it.
As I said before, Bush was right to veto.
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