When President Obama overturned President Bush’s ban of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, some were already wondering if it was a waste of time. Using embryonic stem cells was obsolete. Even U.S. News and World report explained “Why Embryonic Stem Cells are Obsolete“:
In fact, during the first six weeks of Obama’s term, several events reinforced the notion that embryonic stem cells, once thought to hold the cure for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and diabetes, are obsolete. The most sobering: a report from Israel published in PLoS Medicine in late February that shows embryonic stem cells injected into patients can cause disabling if not deadly tumors.
That report came out on March 4th. On March 9th Obama not only authorized the federal funding of embryonic stem cells, but dismissed the idea as being an ethical matter. He said, “Our government has forced what I believe is a false choice between sound science and moral values.” To Obama, the destruction of an embryo, regardless of whether President Clinton thinks it’s fertilized or not, is sound science. Even when it’s obsolete.
Mr. President, allow me to lay down some sound science for you. From the University of Wisconsin-Madison – “UW researchers find safer way to reprogram cells “:
Stem cell pioneer James Thomson and his colleagues reported Thursday that they have developed a safer way of turning cells from the foreskins of newborns into something very similar to embryonic stem cells.
Previous methods accomplished the trick but left behind viruses and outside genes, remnants of which could cause mutations, block the cells from growing into more specific types and even lead to tumors.
The UW team bypassed this obstacle by delivering the special genes with a plasmid, a small, very stable circle of DNA. This package reprogrammed the skin cells and was eventually diluted out of them. What remained were cells that appear to have the healing potential of embryonic stem cells, Thomson and his colleagues reported in the journal Science.
“You don’t need to make viruses. You don’t need to have special precautions. This is a technique any basic molecular biology lab can use,” said Stephen Duncan, a stem cell researcher at the Medical College of Wisconsin, who was not involved in the research, but has been working along similar lines.
“I think we’re getting to a position where we can start to think about using these cells therapeutically.”
Alan Trounson, president of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, called the new paper “very interesting work,” and predicted the new method “will be recognized as another important step forward on reprogramming cells.”
“Science,” he said, “is alive with opportunities in the area of stem cell biology and medicine.”
In the last few years, cell reprogramming has proved one of the most dynamic areas of biology with a growing number of researchers pursuing what could be an alternative to embryonic stem cells.
There really isn’t a need to destroy embryos in the name of sound science. And the evidence shows that adult stem cells are more successful at solving medical issues than embryonic. There simply is not a reason to expend federal tax dollars to destroy these embryos.
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