Posted on 01/02/2007 9:36:36 PM PST by Coleus
Great news! Physicians in Toronto have discovered a cure for diabetes in mice. Thinking outside the box, Dr. Hans Michael Dosch and Dr. Michael Dalter injected the active ingredient in hot chili peppers, capsaicin, into the pancreatic sensory nerves in mice that had an equivalent of Type 1 diabetes. To their shock, the mice began producing insulin immediately. This amazing discovery was made by doctors at the Hospital for Sick Children who had long concluded that a similarity exists between diabetes and multiple sclerosis, a disease of the central nervous system. The best thing about the discovery is that no embryos were dissected to achieve it. To my knowledge, no known cures have been attributed to embryonic stem cell research.
The doctors' work is now being published in medical journals and, Dr. Salter said, "it will no doubt cause a great deal of consternation." I'll say. All those Dr. Frankenstein wannabes who can't wait to get their hands on government-funded embryonic stem cells will have a tougher time convincing the public that this type of research is the only hope for the future. Embryonic stem cell research was on a roll last summer and was used to influence the November elections. Actor Michael J. Fox worked the campaign trail in two states spouting lies about how the Republicans were criminalizing stem cell research and impeding research for Parkinson's disease, with which he is afflicted.
The fact that there is no ban — I repeat, no ban — on embryonic stem cell research doesn't seem to have made much difference to voters in Missouri and Maryland,
(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...
There is also the privately funded maternity and adoption program at the Archdiocese of New York, which provides all the material necessities for a healthy pregnancy and an excellent Cribs for Life program to outfit the newborn completely. No Web site is yet available, but one can call 212-371-1000 and ask for the maternity services office. Umbilical cord blood holds enormous promise for cures. Why isn't Congress working on funding research that works, instead of promoting junk science? But even if embryonic stem cells did provide a cure for my diabetes, the price of an innocent life is too much for me to pay.
Today, we have safeguards in place to ensure ethical practices are followed in a wide range of medical procedures. If the only choices were to use an embryo in stem cell research or discard it, why not give some meaning to this brief embryonic life and allow it to help end the suffering of other people? I'm not advocating farms where embryos are grown and harvested for testing. Without this barbaric proposition, there are still embryonic lines which might be of help. I'll be honest and admit that I'm a person who might be helped, but there are millions like me waiting for that magic cure.
Capsaicin is an interesting product. There are anecdotal reports that it might be able to "reboot" the body's physiology and neurophysiology when used topically or ingested.
There are a lot here who will never condone the use of embryonic stem cells. It’s tragic that they are stifling avenues of research that could help people like you. I wish I could do more to help but it’s difficult to overcome the self-righteous surety of the willfully ignorant. Letting real people die so that we can save single celled embryos is insane.
The human embryo is a real human being at the embryonic stage of development. The fact that society has allowed so many human beings to be begun in harm's way does not change basic ethics.
In fact, to suggest that the circumstances of a human being's conception allows us to discriminate between one and another human being as deserving of rights or a simple reservoir of spare research material is not ethically acceptable.
Lapdog, the equivalent of your question is this: If the only options for a man on death row are to execute him or to to harvest his organs and stem cells in order to help others, then . . .
Of course, the "options" are not either/or:
I. The embryos that are frozen were the least promising of each in vitro cycle - the most healthy looking ones were implanted.
II. Harvard scientists and others all over the world are, indeed, creating embryos explicitly for use in research.
III. A cursory reading of the literature and even popular press articles on embryonic stem cell research will include the information that
A. more and more women need to be encouraged to donate or sell their eggs,
B. that both 'normal' and 'diseased' embryos are 'needed' for research,
C. that early expectations are that if embryonic stem cell research is to ever be useful, the cloning of a patient's own cells will be necessary,
D. no one knows how to control the embryonic stem cells in the body in order to only get the type of adult cells and organs needed, and
E. any tests with embryonic stem cells in human patients are at least 10 to 20 years in the future, because of all of the above.
IV. However, a more careful reading of the original post and so much more of the literature and a few special reports (including, if I may say so, my blog http://www.lifeethics.org/www.lifeethics.org/index.html ) will show that
A. animal models have been very useful in teaching us what we need to know about the embryonic stem cell,
B. that we are able to use umbilical cord blood cells, bone marrow and other body cells including the skin, the nasal mucosa, and from other organs of the patient himself, to develop or harvest "embryonic-like stem cells" or the specific adult stem cells we need,
and,
C. that it's more than likely that the actual environment and the local chemicals in place around an *adult* stem cell are the keys to acheiving regeneration and cures.
V. There is an obvious lesson from the fact that what will really be needed in actual patient treatments are adult stem cells, not embryonic stem cells: the focus should be on adult stem cells and how they work, not on embryonic stem cells.
VI.Did you read about the bone marrow stem cells that not only treat type II (adult onset) diabetes insulin production, but seem to also cause healing in the kidneys?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6123588.stm
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/129/117448.htm
http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft0701/articles/condic.html
Mighty interesting reading on your favorite topic. Note that the author does such research at a high power University and knows the literature cold. That makes this indictment all the more compelling.
Frank
Private companies can do all the embryonic stem cell research they're willing to pay for. The only ban is on using taxpayer funding. Thus far, adult stem cell is far more productive, without moral or ethical controversy as to the origin of the stem cells.
Um, "magic" is right. In view of the fact that embryonic stem cells so far have a track record of zero cures -- though an impressive track record of growing into teratomas instead of the hoped-for cure, it's unclear why you think they offer you hope.
This site lists some of the clinical trials now ongoing for adult stem cell therapies. I'd include a list for ESC therapies, but there are none -- none of the experiments come close to justifying a clinical trial.
Unless you feel your condition could be helped by a teratoma, your "faith" is touching indeed.
Sorry, I don’t buy it. Even if everything Dr. Condic says is true, it means nothing. I believe embryonic stem cells should be available for study and the government shouldn’t limit funding to research facilities that use embryonic stem cell lines. Individual scientists and the organizations they represent are best equipped to determine research direction. If embryonic stem cell research proves fruitless, oh well. However, Dr. Condic doesn’t get to make the call.
At least be honest about the real reason you oppose embryonic stem cell research – and I don’t think it has to do with the saving money. Ultimately, it is the morality and not the feasibility that concerns ordinary Americans. That’s fine. We can have a nice debate on that. But don’t try and muddy the water by throwing in some poorly conceived argument about the utility of research. That’s a concern for the scientific community in which Dr. Condic is just one voice of many.
So if some researcher solved the current problems with embryonic stem cells and opened the door to possible treatments, you’d support lifting the ban right?
It’s just a cell. Really. It’s just a cell.
In fact, to suggest that the circumstances of a human being's conception allows us to discriminate between one and another human being as deserving of rights or a simple reservoir of spare research material is not ethically acceptable.
I agree. Pick a date that makes sense. Before = not a human being. After = a human being. Does this seem arbitrary? Well so is “the moment of fertilization”.
It's a matter of fact that the embryo of a species is a real member of that species. Any embryology resource will confirm that fact.
Well... As you probably know... CA has been bamboozled through Prop 71 into borrowing still yet another extra $3 Billion (That's like 3,000 Millions) for this entire WAG (Wild Asped Guess) that is really a hoped for "magic bullet" that is wanted to serve as justification for more of Planned Parenthood's favorite anti Chistian/Western World, pro Muslim/Eastern World abortion degradation of the west!!!
Yes, of course we have a Hollywood showman "Republican" Governor that gave the bamboozling a "fantastic" lift with his vociferous endorsement. I'll never understand why these "population control" programs are not pushed harder on the Muslim and other third world countries that are rushing to dilute our shrinking culture... Especially here in CA!!!
The shift in the population numbers is becoming astounding!!! The effect on custom, culture and national sovereignty are becoming downright scary!!!
ESCR has never worked, it's been around for 25 years in animals and 8 in humans and since then, in 25 yrs. of research there has been no successful human clinical trial. Adult stem cells work. They've been working for 30 years in humans treating now 72 diseases.
Which explains Arnold's support for the measure.
I believe that the study of adult stem cells and the mechanisms involved in the replacing of dead cells are the key for many cures. In this study, the role of adult stem cells in the formation of cancerous cells may be where the cure for cancer will come.
The study of embryonic stem cells may be only be understood through information from adult stem cell research. Let's be honest about the objective of embryonic stem cell research. In its effort to achieve pluripotentiality it may only serve those who desire to create cloned human beings, human/animal hybrids, eugenics, DNA-recombinant human gene somatic and germ line therapy, and biological/chemical warfare screening research. The quest for the regeneration of human tissue will only come from the adult stem cell.
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