Posted on 08/23/2006 12:43:30 PM PDT by shield
CBNNews.com –- BATAVIA, Illinois - The public is interested in stem cells. Some want to know if it's wrong to use them. Others want to know if they'll help fight incurable diseases.
Yet the public still doesn't understand the controversy over embryonic stem cells versus adult stem cells.
What's working medically, however, can tell us a lot about where the truth lies.
President George W. Bush recently made the first veto of his presidency, and it concerned stem cells. In Washington, the discussion has been about funding of embryonic stem cell research, but the real story may be about Americans receiving treatments with stem cells.
Ryan Schneider was born in late 1992. He's been through a lot in his young life.
Ryan's mom, Mary, said, "His main means of communication was screaming, pointing and crying...He was so frustrated in his own body -- it was very, very difficult. He just couldn't get his point across. It was…impossible."
Mary says he had major eating problems. He would stuff his mouth, and end up choking. He became horribly underweight.
Last summer, doctors came up with a diagnosis for Ryan's afflictions: cerebral palsy, a brain affliction with no certain cause and no certain cure.
But the Schneiders had saved cells from Ryan's umbilical cord in a special blood bank. Those cells are rich in adult stem cells.
In October, doctors put those cells into Ryan's blood through an IV inserted in the back of his hand.
Still, the Schneiders were almost afraid to hope. They had gambled $10,000 for Ryan.
"We couldn't pull back for too long, because,” Mary recalled, “after the first week, Ryan said his first sentence to us, and we were shocked. And we were even more shocked -- it was about giving him some food, which was even more shocking -- he ate it all and wanted more!"
Mary says it was like Christmas for 90 days, with the gift of new skills every day. Ryan is now right where he should be for his age.
Scientists and doctors won't actually say those adult stem cells did the trick for Ryan, but Ryan's status is consistent with the success of adult stem cells over the last 30 years.
Biologist and policy analyst David Prentice said adult stem cells are way ahead of embryonic cells in helping human beings.
Prentice said, "The embryonic -- you can't show that they work and you can't show that they're safe -- so they haven't even been tried in human beings yet. Not very helpful in rats at this point. But the adult stem cells are already showing those first fruits. Now what quarter it is -- it may still be in the first or possibly second quarter of the game, but we're seeing the score run up."
Doctors and scientists can take adult stem cells from just about any part of the body. Mostly, they are put back into the same person, but in some cases can go to other individuals.
On the other hand, embryonic stem cells are taken by dismantling human fetuses. That raises objections about taking a human life.
Bush's compromise several years ago was to fund embryonic stem cell research with cells already taken from embryos.
Many scientists, however, say that they need to destroy more embryos to be able to do the research that's required for medical breakthroughs. They believe that those cells could possibly be more versatile in making nerve, heart, brain or kidney cells. That's one view, but there's another.
Adult cells have won the support of researcher Carlos Lima for their versatility.
“Nature made adult stem cells for replacing and to repair,” explained Dr. Lima. “And what do we want? To replace and repair."
He directed research that took adult stem cells from the noses of spinal cord victims. Then they planted them in the patients' spines.
Technically, it's called a nasal auto-graft. Lima studied the results in seven of his spinal cord patients. Six of them saw progress, including Jason Feasel.
Feasel crashed his motorcycle and damaged his spine. Doctors told him the paralysis was permanent.
"What they told me was that I was going to be paralyzed for the rest of my life, going to be in a wheelchair, probably never going to walk again," said Feasel.
While Jason's progress isn't as dramatic as little Ryan's, it's still significant for everyday living.
Feasel said, "I am able to sneeze a lot better, cough a lot better. My diaphragm, my breathing, is better. I got the trunk control back. I started to get my abdominals back, and stuff like that."
Lima's research was published in the Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine.
He said, "More and more scientists are believing that adult stem cells are much more effective than embryonic or fetal stem cells."
Dr. Nigel Cameron is director of the Institute for Biotechnology and the Human Future. He says there are several reasons why many health advocates and scientists promote embryonic stem cells. One reason: many people so badly want to see difficult diseases like Parkinson's cured.
But Cameron says another reason is that more money is to be made in embryonic cells. Scientists can make significant dollars by developing processes and getting patents on genetic material.
"Nothing motivates people like money,“ Cameron said. “Unfortunately, that's the way it works. On the other hand, it means they are not speaking objectively about these research questions; they are looking for profit."
He suggests that there's a darker reason as well. Further funding of embryonic cell research without the current restrictions could leave the door open for cloning human beings. And sometimes the push for human cloning is hidden under the term "therapeutic cloning."
Cameron said, “Canada sends you to jail for five years for therapeutic cloning, perhaps the most liberal, major country in the world. France, perhaps the most secular, major country in the world, sends you to jail for seven years. And, in fact, the Germans copied the Bush stem cell funding policy. Well, now there's a funding policy in Germany that if you do research on any stem cells from embryos, apart from those destroyed before a certain date, you go to jail."
While there are these and other important public issues flowing from stem cells, medical treatment is what most people are emphasizing.
With families like the Schneiders experiencing the very real benefits of stem cells, the hope is that more people will have stem cell treatments available to them.
But the Schneiders had saved cells from Ryan's umbilical cord in a special blood bank. Those cells are rich in adult stem cells.
In October, doctors put those cells into Ryan's blood through an IV inserted in the back of his hand.
Still, the Schneiders were almost afraid to hope. They had gambled $10,000 for Ryan.
"We couldn't pull back for too long, because,” Mary recalled, “after the first week, Ryan said his first sentence to us, and we were shocked. And we were even more shocked -- it was about giving him some food, which was even more shocking -- he ate it all and wanted more!"
I think he made it up!
Oh, dude, you just KNOW he hangs out with that Heywood fellow.
And why would you say such a thing?
Because I find it astonishing that such a name could actually be given to a person.
However, if you're the author, I apologize, of course.
Oh, now I get it! You thought I meant that Mr. Totheroh had made up the story, when I meant I thought the name sounded like something out of a hastily-written science fiction TV-series episode.
My comment was utterly irrelevant to the article content, of which I have no reason to doubt the veracity.
Looks like an uppity, Eurotrash spelling of Tutterow, to me.
This article again proves adult stem cells vs the other. MSM's reporting on these facts....is just NOT happening. I always ck out CBN...they'll report what the MSM isn't.
*snicker*
What about "Gailon"? Sounds alien to me ...
You're right - without FR, we wouldn't have access to many of the stories about the successful treatments with adult or umbilical stem cells.
Maybe he's Canadian.
LOL!
FR...what a blessing...
No adult stem cells ping?
In many ways!
Read later bump. ;-)
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