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Embryonic Stem Cell Research Unneeded
By Deroy Murdock, Scripps Howard News Service
13-OCT-05
NEW YORK -- Once upon a time, you were an embryo. Had researchers "harvested" your stem cells, you never would have learned to read or kissed your mom and dad goodnight. Indeed, you never would have been born, and your life would have been squandered for nothing. Embryonic stem cell research has yet to produce a single cure, while adult stem-cell research already treats 65 diseases and benefits human patients, not just lab rats.
Thankfully, medical innovation does not require Frankencells to be created by destroying microscopic-Americans. The Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics in Washington (stemcellresearch.org) and Comment on Reproductive Ethics in London (corethics.org) are among the organizations trumpeting the triumphs of adult stem-cell research (ASCR).
_ Since 1993, 1,801 individuals have received stem-cell-rich umbilical-cord blood from New York Blood Center alone. These have included 66 with lymphoma and 1,150 leukemia patients. NYBC supplies non-embryonic cord blood to 90 transplant facilities across America and 86 overseas.
_ "I haven't felt better in myself for 30 years," Englishman Richard Lane told The Guardian last March. "I have to pinch myself to ensure I am not dreaming." After receiving three transplants of normal pancreatic islet cells from a deceased donor, Lane's type-1 diabetes stopped, as did his insulin injections. "It's almost like being a totally different person," he said.
According to King's College Hospital professor Stephanie Amiel, "Eventually this could mean the end of insulin dependence for all type-1 diabetes sufferers."
The Lancet, a British medical journal, reported last April on a 56-year-old Japanese mother whose donated pancreatic islet cells have healed her 27-year-old daughter's insulin-dependent diabetes.
_ The August 2004 issue of Lancet discussed the replacement of a German mouth-cancer patient's removed jawbone. Using his own stem cells, doctors spent seven weeks growing him a new mandible around wire mesh. Once implanted, he tested it by biting into a frankfurter. He soon resumed eating normally.
_ Adult stem cells have helped about 60 paraplegics and quadriplegics regain sensation and movement. Stem cells from their own nasal cavities helped spinal-injury victims Laura Dominguez, Susan Fajt and Erica Nader walk with braces. Similar treatments empowered six Russians to boost their mobility. Bedridden for 19 years, South Korea's Hwang Mi-Soon stepped gingerly with a walker one month after doctors injected cord blood into her damaged spine. "This is already a miracle for me," she told London's Daily Telegraph last Nov. 30.
_ Blind people now can see, thanks to doctors who extract stem cells from patients' own eyes, then culture healthy tissue to repair their corneas. "I feel like a human being again," Deborah Catlyn told the Telegraph last April. She regained her sight after losing it in 2002 when a woman at a nightclub threw acid in her face. Catlyn is one of 20 Britons who this ASRC procedure has enriched. It was developed at Hyderabad, India's Prasad Eye Institute, where some 200 blind people have been treated, most successfully.
ASCR's medical breakthroughs render inexcusable Congress' efforts to fund ESCR. With dilemma-free treatments already curing patients, why on Earth did the GOP-controlled House of Representatives last May 24 approve federal funds to slice tiny boys and girls into laboratory specimens?
for full article:
http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=MURDOCK-10-13-05
By Deroy Murdock, Scripps Howard News Service
13-OCT-05
NEW YORK -- Once upon a time, you were an embryo. Had researchers "harvested" your stem cells, you never would have learned to read or kissed your mom and dad goodnight. Indeed, you never would have been born, and your life would have been squandered for nothing. Embryonic stem cell research has yet to produce a single cure, while adult stem-cell research already treats 65 diseases and benefits human patients, not just lab rats.
Thankfully, medical innovation does not require Frankencells to be created by destroying microscopic-Americans. The Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics in Washington (stemcellresearch.org) and Comment on Reproductive Ethics in London (corethics.org) are among the organizations trumpeting the triumphs of adult stem-cell research (ASCR).
_ Since 1993, 1,801 individuals have received stem-cell-rich umbilical-cord blood from New York Blood Center alone. These have included 66 with lymphoma and 1,150 leukemia patients. NYBC supplies non-embryonic cord blood to 90 transplant facilities across America and 86 overseas.
_ "I haven't felt better in myself for 30 years," Englishman Richard Lane told The Guardian last March. "I have to pinch myself to ensure I am not dreaming." After receiving three transplants of normal pancreatic islet cells from a deceased donor, Lane's type-1 diabetes stopped, as did his insulin injections. "It's almost like being a totally different person," he said.
According to King's College Hospital professor Stephanie Amiel, "Eventually this could mean the end of insulin dependence for all type-1 diabetes sufferers."
The Lancet, a British medical journal, reported last April on a 56-year-old Japanese mother whose donated pancreatic islet cells have healed her 27-year-old daughter's insulin-dependent diabetes.
_ The August 2004 issue of Lancet discussed the replacement of a German mouth-cancer patient's removed jawbone. Using his own stem cells, doctors spent seven weeks growing him a new mandible around wire mesh. Once implanted, he tested it by biting into a frankfurter. He soon resumed eating normally.
_ Adult stem cells have helped about 60 paraplegics and quadriplegics regain sensation and movement. Stem cells from their own nasal cavities helped spinal-injury victims Laura Dominguez, Susan Fajt and Erica Nader walk with braces. Similar treatments empowered six Russians to boost their mobility. Bedridden for 19 years, South Korea's Hwang Mi-Soon stepped gingerly with a walker one month after doctors injected cord blood into her damaged spine. "This is already a miracle for me," she told London's Daily Telegraph last Nov. 30.
_ Blind people now can see, thanks to doctors who extract stem cells from patients' own eyes, then culture healthy tissue to repair their corneas. "I feel like a human being again," Deborah Catlyn told the Telegraph last April. She regained her sight after losing it in 2002 when a woman at a nightclub threw acid in her face. Catlyn is one of 20 Britons who this ASRC procedure has enriched. It was developed at Hyderabad, India's Prasad Eye Institute, where some 200 blind people have been treated, most successfully.
ASCR's medical breakthroughs render inexcusable Congress' efforts to fund ESCR. With dilemma-free treatments already curing patients, why on Earth did the GOP-controlled House of Representatives last May 24 approve federal funds to slice tiny boys and girls into laboratory specimens?
for full article:
http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=MURDOCK-10-13-05
