An Unreal Debate: Stem-cell ideologues vs. the facts

National Review ^ | January 10, 2007 | Yuval Levin

[Caleb1411]

BTTT

[sono]

Idealogues ... an apt description. Folks should recall the recent cases of leukemia following gene therapy. Tread lightly ...

[My2Cents]

Someone needs to nail this article to Orin Hatch's forehead.

[ClearCase_guy]

Again and again they refuse to acknowledge the increasing evidence that genuine alternatives to embryo-destructive research may be possible.

Willful blindness. They do not want alternatives. They desire some compelling reason to "justify" the destruction of unborn humans. It's not about making Michael J Fox stop shaking. They don't care about Mike. It's all about preserving Roe v Wade. So long as some justification for destroying pre-persons is found, then Roe has some life left in it.

[My2Cents]

Willful blindness. They do not want alternatives.

This isn't just politics as usual. There is something diabolical about the full-court press to start destroying human embryos on the faint and virtually non-existent hope of finding a "cure" to anything. These proponents seem to be salivating at the possibility.

[G Larry]

BTTT!

[ClearCase_guy]

Child sacrifice (to Ba'al) was part of Canaanite worship. The Left today is at war with God (and has been since 1789). The Left is a culture of death and almost all left-wing policies reflect this. I don't think it's an accident. I don't think it's just bad ideology. I believe that this is the devil's work.

[The Blitherer]

For liberals, it's not about the science or the facts, it's about the principle of the matter. When somebody tells them they shouldn't do something because it's wrong, immoral, unethical, etc., it doesn't matter what it is, they MUST have a license to do it. This stems from their worldview that there are no eternal consequences, no moral absolutes and no accountability for one's actions. Anything(even things that are by nature harmful) that suggests otherwise MUST be allowed or their entire worldview falls apart.

[cpforlife.org]

http://www.stemcellresearch.org/facts/treatments.htm

Fact Sheet Do No Harm Updated July 16, 2006

Benefits of Stem Cells to Human Patients

Adult Stem Cells v. Embryonic Stem Cells
Download This List
Peer-Reviewed References (not a complete listing, sample references)

Adult Stem Cells	Embryonic Stem Cells
Cancers: Brain Cancer Retinoblastoma Ovarian Cancer Skin Cancer: Merkel Cell Carcinoma Testicular Cancer Tumors abdominal organs Lymphoma Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Acute Myelogenous Leukemia Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia Cancer of the lymph nodes: Angioimmunoblastic Lymphadenopathy Multiple Myeloma Myelodysplasia Breast Cancer Neuroblastoma Renal Cell Carcinoma Various Solid Tumors Soft Tissue Sarcoma Ewing’s Sarcoma Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis POEMS syndrome Myelofibrosis Auto-Immune Diseases Systemic Lupus Sjogren’s Syndrome Myasthenia Autoimmune Cytopenia Scleromyxedema Scleroderma Crohn’s Disease Behcet’s Disease Rheumatoid Arthritis Juvenile Arthritis Multiple Sclerosis Polychondritis Systemic Vasculitis Alopecia Universalis Buerger’s Disease Cardiovascular Acute Heart Damage Chronic Coronary Artery Disease Ocular Corneal regeneration Immunodeficiencies Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Syndrome X-linked Lymphoproliferative Syndrome X-linked Hyper immunoglobulin M Syndrome Neural Degenerative Diseases and Injuries Parkinson’s Disease Spinal Cord Injury Stroke Damage Anemias and Other Blood Conditions Sickle Cell Anemia Sideroblastic Anemia Aplastic Anemia Red Cell Aplasia Amegakaryocytic Thrombocytopenia Thalassemia Primary Amyloidosis Diamond Blackfan Anemia Fanconi’s Anemia Chronic Epstein-Barr Infection Wounds and Injuries Limb Gangrene Surface Wound Healing Jawbone Replacement Skull Bone Repair Other Metabolic Disorders Hurler’s Syndrome Osteogenesis Imperfecta Krabbe Leukodystrophy Osteopetrosis Cerebral X-Linked Adrenoleukodystrophy Liver Disease Chronic Liver Failure Liver Cirrhosis Bladder Disease End-Stage Bladder Disease	NONE
Peer-Reviewed References (not a complete listing, sample references) The Facts - Prentice, D. "Adult Stem Cells" Appendix K in Monitoring Stem Cell Research: A Report of the President's Council on Bioethics (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 2004), 309-346.

News Commentary Press Releases Facts and Information

Testimonies Public & Congressional Stem Cell Report Join The Coalition Home

Pro-Life PING

Please FreepMail me if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.

[MHGinTN]

But in the House, most of the Democrats and a few Republican opponents of the president’s policy decided they could not support the search for a solution. They opposed the bill, and prevented its passage. Their intransigence sent a very strange message: They would have the federal government fund the exploration of pluripotent stem cells only if it involved destroying human embryos. Otherwise, they were not interested. They would only back the science if it were controversial. These opponents of the stem-cell-alternatives bill included the entire Democratic House leadership, and this year they have prevented the same bill from even coming to a vote. As this issue becomes clearer to the public, it also becomes clearer to the public that the democrat party cannot afford to turn aside from anything which involves the destruction of younger humans for their body parts to treat older humans, because to turn aside even once is to acknowledge that it is wrong to commit this cannibalism.

We saw this same insane defense of the indefensible with the debate over the heinous partial birth abortion issue ... democrats (including hillary and Barbara Boxer) could not step away from defending the evil because to do so even once would have indicated that the abortion on demand issue is wrong at the heart of it, meaning the Democrats have been wrong in defending and pushing it.

Sadly, democrats cannot understand that they originally made an honest mistake, so they remain committed to repeating in even greater evil the original mistake! Even sadder is the number of Catholics and other Christians who have continued to vote these same politicians back into office despite the support for evil deeds.

[The Blitherer]

Exactly. Very well put.

[neverdem]

Go to the original article at NRO if you want to check out more than a dozen links within it.

[kabar]

The irony is that Bush is the first president to authorize federal funds for embryonic stem cell research.

[Vigilanteman]

They would have the federal government fund the exploration of pluripotent stem cells only if it involved destroying human embryos. Otherwise, they were not interested.

And that, my friend, sums up the entire debate.

It's all about sticking it to the religious right and the right to lifers to show them just who is in charge.

Because if it was about research, they would be funding their own resaerch with minimal government help as does MS, Cystic Fybrosis, Muscular Dystrophy and about 100 other such organizations.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

bump

[gcruse]

Happily, the science of stem cell research continues beneath the din of yapping ideologues. Progress will be made.

[Dumb_Ox]

The false claims are familiar by now. We continue to hear there is a “ban” on federal funding of embryonic-stem-cell research. But in fact, the Bush administration was the first to fund the research

He voted for it, before he voted against it.

That news has been almost exclusively about the emerging possibility of developing cells with the abilities of those derived from embryos, but without the need to harm human embryos.

Embryonic stem-cell abilities are almost entirely theoretical, even now. See Here

[Grizzled Bear]

Care to weigh in on this thread?