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SANTIAGO (AFP) – A middle-aged leukemia patient has became Chile's first patient to receive stem cells from an umbilical cord in a radical procedure that could cure the disease, health officials here said Thursday. The 48-year-old man received the transplanted cells on Monday from samples stored in the so-called "Bank of Life" institute, said doctors at Santiago's Catholic University Hospital, where the operation was performed...

Bioethics: The former director of the National Institutes of Health, once an enthusiast for embryonic stem cells, now says their future has "dimmed." So why is the administration bailing out research into such therapies while troubled states like California have committed billions?Aside from creating or saving a few research jobs, the administration's decision to federally fund embryonic stem cell research is, as we've noted, a bailout of bad science. It throws money at an avenue of research that time and adult stem cell progress have passed by. Applauding the administration's move was Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., who echoed the claims...

The Obama administration today announced far-reaching new guidelines on the use of stem cells in medical research, and promised federal funds to study many of the hundreds of stem cell lines whose use was prohibited by the Bush administration. President Obama had promised during the presidential campaign to ease restrictions on the use of stem cells in research, and has cited the promise of stem cell research in finding cures for disorders that have so far proven intractable. The new guidelines were announced today by officials at the National Institutes of Health. In an important shift from draft guidelines issued...

WEDNESDAY, July 1 (HealthDay News) -- For the first time, researchers have identified a single "master" stem cell in humans that is capable of differentiating into all three major cell types that make up the human heart. "This is a very simple but very important and fundamental finding, and that is understanding how the human heart is built, how it is made, what are the progenitor cells which give rise to the human heart," said Dr. Kenneth Chien, head of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute's cardiovascular disease program and senior author of a paper in the July 2 issue of...

Science: The president's Council on Bioethics is summarily dismissed when it disagrees on the need for more federally funded embryonic stem cell research. The scientific method doesn't include firing those who disagree with you.Inspectors general are apparently not the only ones to pay for annoying the White House by doing their job. The 18-member council existed to provide the president with advice on the moral and ethical implications of the rapid advances in science and medical research. It exists no more. The council existed to ponder whether we should do something just because we can. Apparently President Obama wanted not...

Tuesday June 23, 2009 Obama Abruptly Sacks Bio-ethics Panel Critical of Embryonic Stem-Cell Research By Peter J. SmithWASHINGTON, D.C., June 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The White House has dismissed the members of the President’s US Council on Bioethics just a few months before their mandate expires, indicating their services are no longer required by the President and that he is looking for a more “practical� advisory board. The New York Times reported that Reid Cherlin, a White House press officer, told the paper that President Barack Obama saw them as "a philosophically leaning advisory group" designed by the previous...

DOCTORS have frozen sperm stem cells from a three-month-old baby so that he can father children when he is older. The infant is undergoing cancer treatment that is likely to leave him infertile. His parents hope that once he reaches adulthood, doctors will transplant the stem cells back to allow him to produce sperm. The breakthrough in America could give the infant the chance to have a family, but raises ethical questions because a baby is unable to give consent to such a procedure. Until now, doctors in Britain and America have offered fertility treatment to boys only once they...

Conservative Comedian Steven Crowder does it again!

In a world-first breakthrough, University of New South Wales (UNSW) medical researchers have used stem cells cultured on a simple contact lens to restore sight to sufferers of blinding corneal disease. Sight was significantly improved within weeks of the procedure, which is simple, inexpensive and requires a minimal hospital stay. The research team from UNSW’s School of Medical Sciences harvested stem cells from patients’ own eyes to rehabilitate the damaged cornea. The stem cells were cultured on a common therapeutic contact lens which was then placed onto the damaged cornea for 10 days, during which the cells were able to...

Here's something that people with poor or no vision will be excited about: three patients had their sight restored in less than a month by contact lenses cultured with stem cells. All three patients were blind in one eye. The researchers extracted stem cells from their working eyes, cultured them in contact lenses for 10 days, and gave them to the patients. Within 10 to 14 days of use, the stem cells began recolonizing and repairing the cornea. Of the three patients, two were legally blind but can now read the big letters on an eye chart, while the third,...

Pigs offer new stem cell source Pig organs are similar to their human equivalents Chinese scientists have given cells from adult pigs the ability to turn into any tissue in the body, just like embryonic stem cells. They hope the breakthrough could aid research into human disease, and the breeding of animals for organ transplants for humans. It may also enable the development of pigs that are resistant to diseases such as swine flu. The study appears online in the Journal of Molecular Cell Biology. This breakthrough to produce pig stem cells potentially reinvigorates the quest to grow humanised pig...

On May 12, my colleagues on the ethics committee of New York’s Empire State Stem Cell Board voted overwhelmingly to recommend that state funds be awarded to researchers who have paid women for their “time and burden” in the retrieval of their eggs for research purposes. If adopted by New York’s full stem-cell board, the measure will mimic the long-established practice in the assisted-reproduction industry of paying up to $10,000 per retrieval. New York would become the first state in the union to allow such reimbursements to eggs-for-research donors. As if paying women indirectly for their eggs were not shocking...

Let’s remember that the debate over President Obama’s appearance at Notre Dame was never about whether he is a good or bad man. The president is clearly a sincere and able man. By his own words, religion has had a major influence in his life. We owe him the respect Scripture calls us to show all public officials. We have a duty to pray for his wisdom and for the success of his service to the common good -- insofar as it is guided by right moral reasoning. We also have the duty to oppose him when he’s wrong on...

Happened upon Obama's page on health care, and the words in all caps STAND WITH THE PRESIDENT, and DECLARE YOUR SUPPORT stood out to me. You might also sign up to be Barack's friend, and keep in mind that the page is POWERED by HOPE. If you click through to maybe sign up there, you read this innocent statement: I support President Obama's three principles for real health care reform, and I call on Congress to enact a plan upholding them in 2009. If you didn't read the previous page carefully or don't care, you're about to sign up for...

I would submit to the good doctor that, in order to “engage in vigorous debate,” one would do well to use the proper language in description of your point. I am not aware of those who speak out against “stem cell research,” but I do know of many who take issue with the destruction of life that comes with “embryonic stem cell research.” In a setting where the truthful exchange of ideas, or today’s buzzword of “dialogue,” is to be engaged, it would seem a bit disingenuous for President Obama to omit the word “embryonic” from his teleprompter in order...

Stem Cells from Blood Render Embryonic Sources Obsolete by Brian Thomas, M.S.* On the heels of President Barack Obama’s March 9 order to use public monies to support embryonic stem cell research,[1] another source of stem cells has become available—blood. Blood would be an ideal supplier for stem cells because it is a renewable tissue and harvesting blood components does not end life. These reengineered cells would also be patient-specific and avoid immune system difficulties, unlike embryonic sources which are derived from another person entirely. A recent study discovered a way in which blood could generate stem cells.[2] The researchers...

Consensus Science: The Rise of a Scientific Elite by Randy J. Guliuzza, P.E., M.D.* In battle, one clever military tactic is to focus enemy troops' attention on a spectacular frontal assault so they will overlook a deadly side attack. This approach works in other arenas, as well. On March 9, President Barack Obama ordered that federal tax money be used to promote medical research through harvesting the stem cells of, and thus destroying, human embryos. There has been much discussion about the medical ethics of this order and the government's increased power to destroy human life for "scientific" progress,[1] but...

Obama the Sophist This is from the President's remarks at the National Academy of Science:At such a difficult moment, there are those who say we cannot afford to invest in science. That support for research is somehow a luxury at a moment defined by necessities. I fundamentally disagree. Science is more essential for our prosperity, our security, our health, our environment, and our quality of life than it has ever been. Who the hell is saying we cannot afford to invest in science? Isn't the real argument about whether we can spend so much more (fully 3% of GDP)...

Read these stories and much more by clicking the excerpt link below: 1. Wall Street Journal: “Hong Kong Christens an Ark of Biblical Proportions” 2. ScienceNOW: “Our Ancestors Were No Swingers” 3. National Geographic News: “First Tool Users Were Sea Scorpions?” 4. LiveScience: “Three Subgroups of Neanderthals Identified” 5. BBC News: “Stem Cells ‘Can Treat Diabetes’” (adult stem cells, that is...) 6. New Scientist: “Praying to God Is Like Talking to a Friend” And much much more at...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi forcefully responded to conservative critics of government funding for programs like stem cell research today, saying that under the Bush administration "we've had a situation where it's faith or science - take your pick." "We're saying science is an answer to our prayers," the San Francisco Democrat said.

WASHINGTON -- Scientists seeking taxpayer money for embryonic stem cell research under President Barack Obama's new plan must use cells originally culled from fertility clinic embryos that otherwise would be thrown away. That's the word from the National Institutes of Health, which is issuing draft guidelines Friday on steps scientists must take. The guidelines rule out more controversial research -- using stem cells taken from embryos created just for science -- in favor of a limit with broad congressional support. The public gets a month to comment on the guidelines, before final rules are issued by early July.

April 7, 2009 — Adult stem cells are continuing to promise revolutionary therapies, while embryonic stem cells remain a political football even after Obama’s loosening of restrictions.  Some stories seem to suppress the word “embryonic” and just talk about “stem cells,” but there is a big difference in the ethics of one over the other.  Embryonic stem cells require harvesting a human embryo. Adult Stem Cell News Diabetes:  Sufferers of peripheral artery disease, common among diabetics, may have hope using stem cells from their own bone marrow.  PhysOrg reported that researchers at the University of Western Ontario isolated three types...

Did The Marxist Onada rescind his stem cell executive order or not?

Prestigious Hastings Center bioethics think tank publishes comments by more than half of President Bush's bioethics council: You might have thought that President Obama's recent order earlier this month, lifting restrictions on federally funded stem cell research, would render obsolete the opinions of a Bush-appointed council tasked with advising the former chief executive on stem cells and other hot-button bioethics issues. Evidently not. Ten members of The President's Council on Bioethics, an 18-member bioethics advisory panel appointed by President Bush but still active until the end of September 2009, wrote in the Hastings Center's Bioethics Forum blog that Obama's description...

Francis Beckwith knows what it's like to be in the middle of controversy. In fact, he thinks he's a magnet for it. Beckwith, who is a philosophy and church-studies professor at Baylor University, triggered a debate when he resigned as president of the Evangelical Theological Society after converting to Catholicism. Now Beckwith happens to be a visiting fellow at the University of Notre Dame, where a new debate is focused on the university's invitation to President Obama to speak at commencement. "My wife says I'm like the Forrest Gump for controversy," he said. "But on campus, more people are concerned...

Nearly 65,000 people have signed an online petition protesting President Obama's scheduled May 17 commencement address at the University of Notre Dame, saying the president's views on abortion and stem cell research "directly contradict" Roman Catholic teachings. "It is an outrage and a scandal that 'Our Lady's University,' one of the premier Catholic universities in the United States, would bestow such an honor on President Obama given his clear support for policies and laws that directly contradict fundamental Catholic teachings on life and marriage," the petition link: notredamescandal.com (Also see petition provided below.)

OBAMA: Good evening. Now, before I take questions from the correspondents, I want to give everyone who's watching tonight an update on the steps we're taking to move this economy from recession to recovery, and ultimately to prosperity. Now, it's important to remember that this crisis didn't happen overnight and it didn't result from any one action or decision. It took many years and many failures to lead us here. And it will take many months and many different solutions to lead us out. There are no quick fixes, and there are no silver bullets.

< snip > . . . Barack Obama speaks like the college professor he was and thereby seduces the adulators of the intellect the moment he opens his mouth. Yet, it is he, not George W. Bush, who nearly always travels with teleprompters to deliver even the briefest remarks. And compared to George W. Bush on many important issues, his talks are superficial — as reading, as opposed to hearing, them easily reveals. Take, for example, one of the most complex and compelling moral issues of our time — embryonic stem cell research. This is an excellent area for comparison...

As President Obama lifted restrictions on federal funding of stem-cell research March 9, he defended "letting scientists do their jobs, free from manipulation or coercion, and listening to what they tell us, even when it's inconvenient." Obama contrasts his approach with that of his predecessor, who many say allowed ideology to outweigh science in government decisions. But Obama is wrong, in three ways. First of all, the government has a responsibility to monitor and regulate the activities of scientists, who are not infallible, and like all of us, can be driven by motives of greed or ambition to cross lines...

Obama’s anti-life ideology ... Obama is not opposed to restricting adult stem cell research, because the same executive order which gives funding to embryonic stem cell research takes away funding from adult stem cell research. This is a senseless move on the part of the president; the only stem cell research he is interested in funding is precisely the most dangerous kind, the only kind that a large segment of the population is opposed to on moral grounds, and the only one that has consistently failed to produce the promised ‘miracle cure’ results. If he were really concerned about life-saving...

On Wednesday, only two days after he lifted President Bush’s executive order banning federal funding of stem cell research that requires the destruction of human embryos, President Barack Obama signed a law that explicilty bans federal funding of any "research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death." The provision was buried in the 465-page omnibus appropriations bill that Obama signed Wednesday. Known as the Dickey-Wicker amendment, it has been included in the annual appropriations bill for the Department of Health and Human Services every fiscal year since 1996....

SHORTLY AFTER the president announced his new policy on funding embryonic stem-cell research, CNN's Larry King devoted a special program to the subject. His first guest was Mary Tyler Moore, the international chairwoman of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation who has long been involved in raising funds and awareness for the treatment of Type 1 diabetes, a disease for which there is still no cure. "I am so pleased with the thought and care that he put into making this decision. I think it's a good one," Moore told King. "What's wonderful too is that this means that the United...

On Wednesday, only two days after he lifted President Bush’s executive order banning federal funding of stem cell research that requires the destruction of human embryos, President Barack Obama signed a law that explicilty bans federal funding of any "research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death." The provision was buried in the 465-page omnibus appropriations bill that Obama signed Wednesday. Known as the Dickey-Wicker amendment, it has been included in the annual appropriations bill for the Department of Health and Human Services every fiscal year since 1996....

AMA Supports President's Decision to Fund Stem Cell Research For immediate release March 9, 2009 Statement attributable to: Joseph Heyman, MD Board Chair, American Medical Association "The American Medical Association supports President Obama's decision to lift the ban on federal funding of stem cell research. Stem cell research holds great promise to treat diseases that science has so far been unable to cure, and this change in policy will allow researchers to accelerate their efforts by applying for federal research funds. "The AMA supports biomedical research on stem cells and has encouraged strong public support of federal funding for this...

Science is capable of creating one blabbering, leg tingling, caterpillar eyebrowed Olbermatthews--a two-headed Dr Heckle and Mister Snide for all eight MSNBC viewers to enjoy. Imagine the benefits: Two squawking heads on one fat body. This would require removing Olbermann's head (don't worry, he won't miss it) and implanting it on Chris Matthews, next to his existing head, since his body is fatter and therefore more capable of surviving the procedure and hosting the newly implanted noggin. Science can do this! So why not? Answer: Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. Planned Parenthood founder and unabashed...

Who would be against finding better ways of treating hypothermia or malaria? What monster would prevent us from discovering a cure for gangrene? Who is against better treatment for burns? Given the scarcity of fresh water in many parts of the world, can we find ways of putting seawater to human use? And who knows what useful science can result from the study of twins? Somehow, at one time and place, certain experiments designed to find the answers to these worthy questions were found to be a crime against humanity. But thanks to the policies of the Obama administration, these...

LARRY KING LIVE WANTS YOUR VOTE ON WHETHER OBAMA SHOULD USE TAXPAYER DOLLARS FOR STEMCELL RESEARCH???

US President Barack Obama will Monday wipe out another contentious aspect of his predecessor George W. Bush's legacy by removing curbs on federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research.Links: (on site) Obama to reverse Bush limits on stem- cell research Stem cell go-ahead puts Obama at odds with pope... Stem cell decision exposes religious divides... So obviously it is an incomprehensible and utterly deplorable concept to harvest human babies for stems cells (unless you are a liberal). My question is, why is the green light being given by Obama do destroy these embryos when the technology is there, or nearly there...

The era of stem cells has officially begun. It's a little late, of course - it could have started eight years ago, when then-President Bush had the opportunity to approve federal funding for new embryonic stem cell research. Instead, he signed an executive order that restricted funding to a handful of existing stem cell lines, tying the hands of scientists for years to come. It was the first sign of the battle to come between the Bush administration, science and ideology.

A quick update today from Zo as well as some rants on Stem Cell Research. Click here to watch.

We are having another one of those amazing moments when Barack Obama - acting as a radical leftist ideologue and advancing a leftist political agenda - summons that amazing degree of personal chutzpah that he alone possesses to condemn his opponents as partisan. Sort of like when Obama - caught red-handed having spent 23 years in a racist and anti-American church - proceeded to offer a pompous moralizing sermon on race relations. Most people - even most politicians (which is saying a lot) - would have faded away with shame had they been caught in such a radical and hateful...

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With a stroke of his pen, Barack Obama forever took politics out of science. Or at least that’s what he said. But as is becoming something of a habit, what he said has nothing whatsoever to do with reality. Like fetal stem-cell research. Yesterday’s executive order on fetal stem-cell research was all about politics and nothing about science. It had nothing at all to do with compassion or curing disease, it was just some cheap thrill in the undying abortion debate. Fetal stem cells are a surrogate for the abortion issue. There being precious little either side of the abortion...

LOS ANGELES, March 9 (Xinhua) -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday applauded President Barack Obama for lifting funding ban on stem cell research. "President Obama's executive order is a huge win for the millions of people who suffer from spinal cord injuries, diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Multiple Sclerosis and many other illnesses," Schwarzenegger said in a statement. "Californians were the first in the nation to support and fund embryonic stem cell research and we are big believers in the power of this revolutionary science to not only improve but to save lives." Earlier on Monday, Obama abolished contentious Bush-era restraints...

I'm very grateful that President Obama has lifted the restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research," the former first lady said in a statement. "These new rule will now make it possible for scientists to move forward." "Countless people, suffering from many different diseases, stand to benefit from the answers stem cell research can provide," said Reagan, who has long been at odds with other conservative Republicans over the stem cell issue. "We owe it to ourselves and to our children to do everything in our power to find cures for these diseases -- and soon." Reagan, 87,...

Stem Cells Does Their Origin Matter? Preserving life—it is extremely important in the Christian faith. But what is the biblical definition of life, and how does this definition affect stem cell research?God clearly commands in Exodus 20:13: “You shall not murder [the intentional, predatory killing of another]” (NIV; see also Matthew 19:18; Romans 13:9). A big controversy today is that of determining when life begins. In the field of embryonic stem cell research (ESCR), this determination is especially crucial. Because technology is advancing faster than society’s ethics, we are left to solve such dilemmas in the midst of active...

Georgia Takes Action: SB 169 to Protect Human Embryos LAWRENCEVILLE, GA, Mar. 9 /Christian Newswire/ -- While President Obama was signing the executive order that would provide federal funds for destructive Human Embryo research today, the Georgia Senate's Health and Human Services Committee moved SB 169: The Ethical Treatment of Human Embryos Act to the Senate Rules Committee on a 7-6 vote. This bill allows for the advancement of scientific research, while also addressing the important ethical questions related in the ongoing debate about Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research (HESCR). First, it allows for the continuation of research that is...

"Many Democrats are wise enough to have a healthy fear of FOCA, the Freedom of Choice Act. Those on the religious left who support President Barack Obama are particularly sensitive to the symbolic power of FOCA to undercut their messaging about "abortion reduction." If FOCA were to cause much-beloved Catholic hospitals to begin shutting their doors, the political impact would be devastating. Thus, it came as no surprise several weeks ago when some of Obama's religious supporters began accusing pro-lifers -- particularly Catholics -- of using FOCA as a scare tactic when it had not yet been introduced into the...

Parody. Parody. Parody. Parody. Obama today loudly proclaimed today that Stem Cell research will be re-funded (ending a Bush White House policy that prohibited federal (but not private!) funding for research using stem cells (and the bodies of aborted babies.) Much promoted by the MSM radio-media during their 1/2 hour slots on every channel, Obama's sound bites proudly declared that "We will not base decisions based on (conservative) politics, but on scientific fact (despite the fact that embryonic stem cell research has badly failed every time it has been tried with private funds)." The AGW community now sits - waiting...