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Republican presidential nominee John McCain debuted a radio ad Friday designed to declare his unequivocal support for stem cell research. McCain voted in the Senate to expand federal funding for the controversial research but Democrats and advocates of the science have expressed concern that McCain’s support has wavered. Not so, according to the radio spot and a McCain spokesman. The ad does not specifically refer to embryonic research, which is opposed by most politicians and activists who, like McCain, do not support abortion rights. The omission is not a signal that McCain is backing away from his record in favor...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Two consumer groups have filed an appeal with the U.S. Patent and Trade Office contesting its March ruling upholding the exclusive patents for stem cells. The office said the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, which holds the original patent on embryonic stem cells, can keep its patents. The patents cover all embryonic stem cells used in the United States and any scientists or research firms wanting them must pay WARF's hefty prices for them. The California-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights and the Consumer Watchdog Foundation are the groups behind the lawsuit and it said WARF...

Governor Paterson announced $109 million in funding for stem cell research yesterday as part of a $600 million initiative approved in last year’s budget. ... Yesterday’s announcement coincided with a convocation ceremony at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. “Human embryonic stem cells offer an unprecedented opportunity to study all aspects of human development,” the hospital’s president, Dr. Harold Varmus, said in a statement.

Throughout his presidency, the Science Intelligentsia has castigated President Bush for placing limits on the federal funding of embryonic-stem-cell research (ESCR). Acting as if he had a banned ESCR, which of course he hadn’t, “the scientists” and their camp followers in the media and on Capital Hill accused the president of withholding cures from the ill in order to impose his religious beliefs on a reluctant public Little noted in all of the caterwauling, was that ESCR and human-cloning research (SCNT) have been funded bounteously — to the tune of nearly $2 billion. Not only has the National Institutes of...

John Edwards had a lot he wanted to say at the Democratic National Committee's fall meeting on Nov. 30. In a fiery speech, he ran down a litany of issues such as Iraq, health care and workers' rights, going well over his allotted 10 minutes and stepping on the other presidential candidates' time. But as lengthy as his remarks were, there was one issue he never mentioned: stem cells. He wasn't alone. Barack Obama didn't address the topic in his speech, either. Nor did any of the other candidates present. Stem cells also slipped the minds of DNC chairman Howard...

The perfect liberal dream! "Now that summer is over, things are really heating up here in New Jersey – The Garden State! November is rapidly approaching and a $450 million stem cell bond question will be on the ballot for us to answer “Yes” or “No.” The question does not inform voters on what stem cell research will be performed. As we all know adult stem cells are highly successful – and do not require millions of dollars since they can be derived from bone marrow, umbilical chord blood and even from skin etc. However, this is not the type...

Research reported this week by three different groups shows that normal skin cells can be reprogrammed to an embryonic state in mice. The race is now on to apply the surprisingly straightforward procedure to human cells.

GAINESVILLE, May 14, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The American College of Pediatricians (ACP) has called for an end to embryonic stem cell research and recommends the exclusive support of already proven effective adult stem cell research. "Not only does embryonic research require taking the life of human embryos, it also prolongs needless suffering by delaying the development of more promising adult stem cell treatments and cures," stated Michelle Cretella, MD, Fellow of the American College of Pediatricians. Research using non-embryo sources of stem cells, including amniotic fluid, umbilical cord blood, placenta and adult blood, fat and various organs, have yielded impressive...

WASHINGTON — After months of meetings with people on both sides of the stem cell debate, Sen. Bob Casey said he will oppose a bill that would clear the way for government financing of new embryonic stem cell research. Legislation coming up for debate today in the Senate would lift President Bush’s 2001 ban on taxpayer-funded research of embryonic stem cells developed after that time. In an effort to win the support of lawmakers like Casey who have backed the ban, sponsors included a provision stating that Congress endorses all types of stem cell research. A similar bill passed Congress...

SIOUX CITY, Iowa - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Monday defended his opposition to embryonic stem cell research despite its scientific promise to cure diseases like multiple sclerosis that afflicts his wife, Ann. In an interview with The Associated Press, the former Massachusetts governor said he was confident that research on adult stem cells could eventually provide the medical answers. "I believe that science is able to receive the stem cells necessary for research through means that don't represent a serious, moral problem," Romney said. Scientists say embryonic stem cells hold the most promise and the research may eventually...

BOSTON -- A black MIT professor began a hunger strike Monday to protest the university's decision to deny him tenure, which he claims was based on race. James Sherley, a stem cell scientist, said he tried for two years to persuade administrators at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to reverse the department head's rejection of his tenure bid. "I'm not actually doing this to get tenured," Sherley said. "I'm doing this for the reason that I wasn't tenured -- which is racism -- and I want this institution to admit that that is the problem and make plans to do...

James Sherley, a biological engineer whose opposition to embryonic stem cell research has been controversial among his peers, charges he has been denied the same freedom to challenge scientific orthodoxy afforded his white colleagues.

Just four days before the House took up the issue, the journal Nature Biotechnology published a study showing that cells from amniotic fluid, collected in the course of routine amniocentesis during pregnancy, could have many of the appealing properties of embryonic stem cells, without requiring the destruction of embryos.

The state would pay for stem-cell research, including studies using cells harvested from embryos, under a bill filed Tuesday in the Florida Legislature that might have new hope because of backing from Gov. Charlie Crist. The proposal has failed before, but its chances may be enhanced this year with the support of Crist... "I think it's important, and we talked about it during the campaign, because of the promise it has for maybe the curing . . . of many diseases and maladies that exist for a lot of our citizens," Crist said. The bill (HB 555)...would require the state...

Daniel Kerner sits in his Portland hotel room, laughing as two characters argue in the film "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius" and moving in time to the music. Hair is growing over the scars on his scalp, where Oregon Health & Science University doctors last month injected brain-making stem cells. It was the world's first such procedure, his doctors say, a risky and experimental trial to fight Batten disease, the brain-wasting illness killing the California boy. In the four weeks since, his parents say, the 6-year-old has grown more lively each day. The milestones are small: More smiles, more eye contact,...

A typical one sided embryonic stem cell news commentary appears again in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Reporting on a recent gathering of embryonic stem cell research advocates in New York, the article quotes Douglas Melton, PhD from Harvard who stated that “If you feel there’s a race to get as fast as you can to the clinic, it would be idiotic not to consider embryonic stem cells.” Huh?

The meeting was almost over when Roman Reed steered his wheelchair to the microphone. On the table before him sat a 149-page book of budget charts and timetables, the first concrete outline of what California's voter-approved stem cell institute plans to accomplish in its 10-year lifespan. "I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart," Reed said to the institute's staff and 29-member oversight board in October. "I promised my son that one day I would be able to walk, stand next to him and go hold my wife's hand. And seeing this road map to cures, I...

Medicines and other medical treatments can produce adverse side effects in some patients. The penicillin that could save me from a deadly infection would have killed my mother who was allergic to it. Stem cells (adult and embryonic) which are being touted as possible treatment for various ailments have a dark side. They are the leading suspects as the source of cancer cells. Some recent research indicates that with some cancers activation of what biologists call a "signaling pathway" named "hedgehog" has been found active in various cancers (esophagus, stomach, pancreas, basil cell carcinoma, a deadly lung cancer and the...

http://www.angelfire.com/blog/stemcells/

Below is an illustration from the Family Research Council to help explain the dizzying science behind embryonic stem cell research

Ouch! I'm pretty confident that Michael Steele is going to beat Ben Cardin in Maryland's Senate race, in part because Cardin keeps shooting himself in the foot. He's now running one of those disgraceful Michael J. Fox embryonic stem cell research ads, which misrepresents Steele's position on the issue (as well as President Bush's). Here is Steele's devastating response, in his own ad: STEELE: I’m Michael Steele, and I approve this message. TURNER: I’m Dr. Monica Turner. Congressman Ben Cardin is attacking Michael Steele with deceptive, tasteless ads. He is using the victim of a terrible disease to frighten people...

The progress of science is paved with stories of high hopes and heartbreaks. But in a busy lab at the University of Rochester the two extremes have met in one dazzling yet devastating experiment. Researchers there have for the first time essentially cured rats of a Parkinson's-like disease using human embryonic stem cells. But 10 weeks into the trial, they discovered brain tumours had begun to grow in every animal treated. "Here we have this method that works so well to reverse the symptoms of Parkinson's," said lead investigator Steven Goldman, "But no matter how you look at it, it's...

Injecting human embryonic stem cells into the brains of Parkinson's disease patients may cause tumors to form, U.S. researchers reported on Sunday. Steven Goldman and colleagues at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York said human stem cells injected into rat brains turned into cells that looked like early tumors. Writing in the journal Nature Medicine, the researchers said the transplants clearly helped the rats, but some of the cells started growing in a way that could eventually lead to a tumor. Various types of cell transplants are being tried to treat Parkinson's disease, caused when dopamine-releasing cells...

WASHINGTON -- A new video available on YouTube marks a late attempt by pro-life forces to avert serious defeat in Missouri Nov. 7, with national implications. Cathy Ruse, speaking for Missourians Against Human Cloning, declares: "Amendment 2 is a fraud. It is an attempt to trick Missourians into approving -- in their Constitution -- human cloning, the right of biotech firms to do human cloning in Missouri -- something Missourians oppose by an overwhelming majority." But Amendment 2 is identified for many Missouri voters by the language at the beginning of the five-page, 2,000-word ballot initiative: "No person may clone...

To the dismay of some advocates for the disabled and sick, a draft report issued today by California's $3 billion stem-cell institute says the agency is unlikely to develop cures for diseases or other ailments any time soon. The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine's proposed strategic plan, written by a group that included two Nobel scientists, methodically sets out a detailed blueprint for eventually turning stem cells into treatments for a variety of health problems. But the plan -- which must be approved by the institute's board -- cautions that stem cell science remains in its infancy and that much...

The fierce public debate over killing human embryos to create lines of embryonic stem cells is over; tout fini; THE END. It was buried with a stake thrust through its heart by a study published in the world’s most prestigious science magazine, Nature. Trust the media: “Stem Cells Created With No Harm to Human Embryos” (Washington Post) “In New Method for Stem Cells, Viable Embryos” (New York Times) “Embryos Spared in Stem Cell Creation” (USA Today) "“Stem Cell Advance Spares Embryos” (L.A. Times) On second thought, don’t trust the media. In fact none of the 16 embryos involved in the...

WASHINGTON A company that claimed it developed a way to harvest stem cells from days-old human embryos without harming the embryos was accused at a Senate hearing Wednesday of misrepresenting its work. Advanced Cell Technology Inc. of Alameda, Calif., drew fire from Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Tom Harkin, D-Iowa., authors of a bill vetoed by President Bush that would have expanded embryonic stem cell research through government funding. Supporters of such research say it could lead to treatments and cures for a wide variety of ailments, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injuries. Bush and abortion foes,...

President Bush Files for Divorce with Catholic BaseCatholic Pro-Life Leader states: “President Bush’s implied support for the abortion-causing drug Plan B is completely inconsistent with his recent veto of the embryonic stem cell research funding bill”FRONT ROYAL, Va., Aug. 21 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, issued the following response to President George W. Bush’s statements today regarding his support for Andrew von Eschenbach and his recent decision to seek over-the-counter (OTC) status for the abortifacient drug Plan B. When asked by reporter Bill Sammon about the situation, Bush stated: “I believe that...

STEM cells taken from mouse embryos have helped paralysed rats move again, US researchers said today. The study was the best evidence so far that controversial embryonic stem cells might be used to treat people with spinal cord and other traumatic injuries, the researchers said. "This study provides a 'recipe' for using stem cells to reconnect the nervous system," Dr Douglas Kerr of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine said in a statement. "It raises the notion that we can eventually achieve this in humans, although we have a long way to go ... We found that we needed...

...Politicians who support research involving the destruction of living human embryos...mischaracterized the bills, misrepresented polling data, launched ad hominem attacks on Presidnet Bush and people of faith, and displayed an astonishing ignorance of the science of stem cells and even basic biology. [snip] How's this for a score: 1181 FDA-approved clinical trials using adult stem cells, to zero human trials using embryonic stem cells? ...Embryonic stem cells have not been shown safe enough for trials wih human subjects, mainly because of their propensity to form tumors and grow uncontrollably...

Link only.

Biotech company executives in the Bay Area met Tuesday to begin working with California's sputtering stem-cell research institute, which was jump-started last week by the $150 million boost it got from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. ``I feel we are at a very important point in history here,'' said Michael West, chairman and chief scientific officer of Advanced Cell Technology of Alameda. He added that it was essential ``do do everything we possibly can to see that money is well spent.'' Still, the executives who met in San Francisco with officials at the stem-cell institute, created in 2004 when California voters passed...

President Bush's veto of a bill to ease restrictions on federally funded embryonic stem-cell research will hinder California's $3 billion voter-approved effort to turn stem cells into cures, backers of the state-funded research effort said Wednesday. Bush's rejection of the legislation -- his first-ever veto in his 5 1/2 years in office -- shows his continued support for those who oppose, on moral grounds, destroying human embryos to create stem cells in research intended to develop new treatments for grave conditions such as Parkinson's, diabetes and spinal cord injuries. --snip-- The veto was a crushing blow for advocates who hoped...

SACRAMENTO A day after President Bush vetoed a measure that would have expanded federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday authorized a $150 million loan to fund the state's moribund stem cell institute, which has been stalled by lawsuits. The move has distinct political benefits for the governor who is seeking to put as much distance as possible between himself and the deeply unpopular president as he seeks re-election this year. Schwarzenegger said the state cannot afford to wait to fund the critical science associated with stem cells. "I remain committed to advancing stem...

Oregon's two senators voted with the Senate majority Tuesday to overturn the president's limits on embryonic stem-cell research, setting the stage for the first veto of the Bush administration. "Please, Mr. President, don't veto this bill," said Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., noting that his family has a history of Parkinson's disease. "Such a veto, I fear, may only throw out hope, healing and human life along with the unused embryos." Sixty-three senators voted to allow federally funded researchers to conduct medical research on surplus embryos from fertility clinics. The bipartisan vote was enough to move the bill to the president's...

WASHINGTON - Debating science, ethics, morality and humanity, the Senate prepared Tuesday to send a bill expanding federal funding of embryonic stem cell research to an unreceptive President Bush. It wasn't a matter of simple party politics, however, as some of Bush fellow Republicans launched a last-ditch lobbying effort to save the bill from his veto. Wrote California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger: "Mr. President, I urge you not to make the first veto of your presidency one that turns America backwards on the path of scientific progress and limits the promise of medical miracles for generations to come." And former first...

SEOUL, South Korea - A discredited South Korean cloning scientist admitted in court Tuesday to ordering subordinates to falsify stem cell data for a paper in a scientific journal, but he insisted he should not be the only one blamed in the scandal. Hwang Woo-suk, who falsely claimed breakthroughs in creating stem cells from cloned human embryos, testified at the second hearing of a trial in which he is accused of accepting funds under false pretenses, embezzlement and violating the bioethics law by purchasing eggs for research. For a 2005 paper in the journal Science, Hwang acknowledged that he told...

Mice testicles yield 'ethical' stem cells * 16:22 24 March 2006 * NewScientist.com news service * Andy Coghlan Men’s testicles may provide an “ethical” source of embryonic stem cells (ESCs), suggest new experiments in mice. A team in Germany has successfully grown mouse ESC-like cells from spermatagonial stem cells which normally turn into sperm. The ESC-like cells can be grown into all tissues of the mouse body, suggesting that if the same could be done in men, it would provide patients with a source of tissue-matched cells for repairing any damaged organs or tissue. So far, all existing colonies of...

British scientists are seeking permission to create hybrid embryos in the lab by fusing human cells with rabbit eggs. If granted consent, the team will use the embryos to produce stem cells that carry genetic defects, in the hope that studying them will help understand the complex mechanisms behind incurable human diseases. The proposal drew strong criticism from opponents to embryo research who yesterday challenged the ethics of the research and branded the work repugnant. Plans for the experiments have been put forward by Professor Chris Shaw, a neurologist and expert in motor neurone disease at King's College London, and...

SEOUL, South Korea - A panel questioned stem cell researcher Hwang Woo-suk, sealed off his office and secured materials in his laboratory Sunday as it began a probe of allegations he falsified embryonic stem cells that he said he had created in a scientific breakthrough. Seoul National University began the investigation after Hwang acknowledged there were "fatal errors" in a May article in the journal Science claiming that he and other researchers cloned human embryos and created 11 stem cell lines that genetically matched certain patients. Scientists hope to use such "therapeutic cloning" someday to create tissue for transplant into...

As a South Korean scientist defends against mounting accusations that he falsified evidence in a breakthrough stem cell study, researchers in California said the controversy has caused significant damage to a promising and fledgling field. Doubts about Hwang Woo-suk's claims that he cloned human cells to create embryonic stem cells have made scientists wonder whether the prospect might remain elusive for years. Researchers and doctors hope to use this process to genetically tailor stem cells for patients suffering from such diseases as Parkinson's, diabetes and multiple sclerosis. "It's a black eye on the whole world of science," Richard Murphy, president...

Embryo cloning requires human eggs, which are typically donated by women in a process that requires a month-long series of hormone injections followed by a minor but not risk-free surgical procedure. Because of the modest but real health risks involved, researchers who perform the procedure are required to get informed consent from donors and fulfill other ethics requirements. For many months after Hwang's 2004 publication, rumors had spread in scientific circles that the eggs Hwang used to achieve that landmark result had been taken from a junior scientist in his lab. That situation, if true, would be in violation of...

Paraplegic breakthrough using adult stem cells Apparent major breakthrough with patient paralyzed 19 years Posted: September 28, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com In an apparent major breakthrough, scientists in Korea report using umbilical cord blood stem cells to restore feeling and mobility to a spinal-cord injury patient. The research, published in the peer-reviewed journal Cythotherapy, centered on a woman who had been a paraplegic 19 years due to an accident. After an infusion of umbilical cord blood stem cells, stunning results were recorded: "The patient could move her hips and feel her hip skin on day 15 after...

Fertility expert Lord Winston says the potential benefits of embryonic stem cell research have probably been oversold to the public. He will warn in a speech on Monday that if science fails to deliver on some of the hype around the cells - as he fears will happen - there will be a backlash. He says the notion that a host of cures for serious, degenerative disorders are just around the corner is fanciful. Lord Winston believes some of the uncertainties need to be emphasised. "Both in Britain and America, huge publicity has been given to stem cells, particularly embryonic...

A team of Texas and British researchers says it has produced large amounts of embryoniclike stem cells from umbilical cord blood, potentially ending the ethical debate affecting stem-cell research -- the need to kill human embryos. The international researchers said the cells -- called cord-blood-derived-embryoniclike stem cells, or CBEs -- have the ability to turn into any kind of body tissue, like embryonic stem cells do, and can be mass-produced using technology derived from NASA.

Cell Lines, Moral Lines Research Should Expand -- With a Key Limit By Charles Krauthammer Friday, August 5, 2005; Page A15 It is a good idea to expand federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. It is a bad idea to do that without prohibiting research that uses embryos created specifically to be used in research and destroyed.

Option to stem cells found Pitt experts say placental cells offer palatable alternative Friday, August 05, 2005 By Byron Spice, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette     University of Pittsburgh researchers have discovered that one type of cell in the human placenta has characteristics that are strikingly similar to embryonic stem cells in their ability to regenerate a wide variety of tissues. The cells, called amniotic epithelial cells, potentially could be used to produce new liver cells to treat liver failure, or new pancreatic islet cells to cure diabetes or new neurons to treat Parkinson's disease. Unlike embryonic stem cells, which are obtained...

Ever since last Friday, when Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist announced that he would support loosening restrictions on the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, the “mainstream” media have become absolutely giddy over the prospect of George W. Bush’s bowing to political defeat on the issue.

Adult stem cells multiply reliably, Children's study finds Hospital's research indicates post-natal cells may work as well as embryonic Thursday, June 23, 2005 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Scientists at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh announced today that they have discovered that adult, or post-natal, stem cells have the same ability as embryonic stem cells to multiply. Calling it a previously unknown characteristic, they said it indicates that post-natal stem cells may play an important therapeutic role. In a news release, the hospital said "adult and post-natal stem cells are often overlooked in favor of embryonic stem cells in the national debate over the...

Missing the Point: Federal Funding of Stem Cell ResearchMay 30,  2005  Medical and scientific ethics issues are in the news again, as Congress narrowly passed a bill last week that funds controversial embryonic stem cell research.  While I certainly sympathize with those who understandably hope such research will lead to cures for terrible diseases, I object to forcing taxpayers who believe harvesting embryos is immoral to pay for it.Congressional Republicans, eager to appease pro-life voters while still appearing suitably compassionate, supported a second bill that provides nearly $80 million for umbilical cord stem cell research.  But it’s never compassionate to...