President Bush should heed the will of Congress and the majority of the public (64 percent, according to a new Gallup poll) and sign a bill loosening restrictions on federally funded stem cell research. But Bush vowed Thursday that he would veto the bill, just as he did a similar bill last July. That’s too bad, especially given that the stem cells would come from unused frozen embryos that fertility clinics plan to discard.
But there was also promising research published Thursday. Scientists were able to make cells equivalent to embryonic stem cells using the skin cells of mice. If the process can be replicated in humans, it could avoid the ethical objections to embryonic stem cells.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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42 Comments
Evidently the one liner I posted a few days ago got some attention. :D
However, the Aussies give it their own slant on who discovered what. I guess it depends on which country you are in on who gets the headline. :)
Breakthrough may end stem cell debate
* Leigh Dayton, Science Writer* June 07, 2007
INTERNATIONAL scientists have reported findings that promise to end the ethical row over stem cell research once and for all.
Separate teams of US and Japanese experts turned ordinary mouse tissue cells into fully functioning embryonic stems (ES) cells without the use of eggs or embryos, the most controversial aspect of ES cell research.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21864397-2703,00.html
This is one of the many reasons that we do not need to rush into the destruction of embryos. Stem cell research is going on now and there are a lot of cures out there using stem cells. The media and others do a disservice to the public when they talk like stem cell research is not going on and the some people are opposed to it. There is concern about the killing of embryos and the cloning of humans. That is only a very small piece of the stem cell area.
There has been great success using the embryonic fluid as well. This potential discovery with mice is exciting.
So please let people know that stem cell research is alive and well and that there are many lives being saved with that research today.
If it works in humans, it will be great, and may solve problems that other stem cells may not.That said, it becomes one more unconcionable delay in research that should have been done years ago. There are people waiting now for cures that stem cells promise. Because of the claptrap that passes for christian ethics, many will now die waiting. Some ethics!
“This is one of the many reasons that we do not need to rush into the destruction of embryos.”Posted by: sotheysaid | June 08, 2007 at 04:17 AM
Why don’t you folks get your panties in a bunch about viable embryos that are destroyed by fertility clinics? Doesn’t that fall into your description of “ending” a life?
If these embryos are going to be destroyed anyway, why not put them to good use?
I think it is more accurate to say that those against using frozen embryos (to be discarded) for research see the problems down the road if a cure for something is found. What then to meet the demand? Human embryo farms?
By raising our voices and objections, and stopping the freight train that was about to run rough shod over human morality concerns, it ws necessary that alternatives be explored. As a result, very promising alternatives are being developed, as noted in the article.
With human ingenuity, it is not necessary to choose between scientific research and morality/ethics concerns. It was a good place to take a stand.
Yeah, good thinking, outlander.
We wouldn’t want to cure some hopeless disease, because then there’d be a demand for embryos.
So let ‘em die.
Real nice.
That’s right, embryos are more important than living humans.
Outlander, the embryos would come from the extra ones left from invitro fertlization that are presently discarded.
Are you against IVF too?
But there is much research going on that can avoid this problem in the future. For once, possibly the only time on these blogs, Republican is right about something.
delsol: The cells for research come from embryos to be discarded. The cells for treatment would have to come from somewhere else. That’s where you get embryo farms. Human life created to be destroyed.
The research mentioned in Republican’s linked article certainly takes the political bite out of president Bush’s expected veto of the EMBRYONIC stem cell research bill. (Phillip forgot to put that in)
What I don’t understand is everyone goes nuts for saving embryos, yet there are hundreds and thousands of children all over this world dying every day from malnutrition and disease.
1) why don’t the people who put so much effort and money into saving some nothing embryos into saving children ALREADY ALIVE2) if destroying a couple of hundred embryos will benefit all of humanity in the future, isn’t the cost benefit ratio worth it? I say yes.
This is another prime reason I cant wait for all of the old farts to die, or at least be old enough to be out of politics, so my generation can do the things that will benefit humanity.
And while the adult skin to stem cell technology is perfected–if it ever is–people like Michael J. Fox (Parkinson’s) and Ronald Reagan (Alzheimer’s) just die, heigh ho.
outlander also fails to point out that we don’t need “embryo farms” because the stem cells of the embryos we have can be cloned–if activists like him weren’t standing in our way . . .
Tony–
Children dying of malnutrition and disease has nothing to do with SEX and SIN.
Abortion is all about female sexuality . . . and controlling it.
If it doesn’t have to do with sex, the fundies don’t care. Burdening a woman with a child she doesn’t want–even a sick child or a child she can’t feed–is all the fundies are interested in.
It’s payback for sex.
Once the child is born, the fundies’ punishment is in effect.
They lose interest.
It doesn’t matter if they find a solution that keeps everybody happy. It’s the principle, those Bushie types need to be shut DOWN!
Just to make sure everyone is up to date, there is no ban on embryonic stem cell research (ESCR). U S GOVERNMENT FUNDED stem cell research is limited to a few lines. ESCR also goes on elsewhere in the world. But there is no guarantee of a cure for anything from embryonic stem cells.
The good news is that embryonic stem cells can also be obtained from embryonic fluids in the placenta. And now viable alternatives to embryonic stem cells are being found that will make the debate moot.
i like sex… It took me 3 kids to figure out how not to have more, but guess what… Its none of outlanders business if my significant other and I decide to have an abortion or to do medical research on an embryo… enough is enough, take a page from Oprah and get a life and save some kids in Africa!
Military personnel die everyday in the defense of keeping people safe. What is so wrong then with embryos giving their lives in the defense of making someone’s life better by curing diseases?
That question is too complex ???????. The fundies don’t like questions like that. I have posed complex questions only to watch the blog go quiet. Be careful with your questions…….they may cause a great silence….lol.
I noticed outlander has once again avoided any answers about in vitro and the discarded embryos.
Destroying embryos to conceive one live baby = good.
Destroying embryos to cure disease = bad.
Got it!
Listen to the crickets……chirp….chirp
Again, no substance offered by the Leftist Libs, just attacks.
??????????? this is all your fault
No substance?
Researching curing diseases using embryos otherwise discarded in the IVF process isn’t substance?
Another good one from Mr. Gadfly.
I knew it! One complex question gets posed and we have 30 minutes of silence. Man I am good.
An embryo is a mass of cells. That is all it is. No different than a plant and less than an animal. Embryos are not a “little tiny baby” as the Rapturefarians would have you think. They may develop into a baby if implanted in a womb. If they believe this, you must also believe that when a hen lays an egg, that egg is a baby bird. Therefore if you eat eggs for breakfast, you have caused an abortion. In fact you ate a fetus!
Mike, and ???????, you’re not helping the cause. Your question isn’t too complex: the military personnel volunteered for the risk of war, whereas the embryos got drafted.
Come on.
It’s possible IF they were everything these “protect the unborn” try to make them out to be they would volunteer to avoid the incinerator.
heheheh. Outlander has a habit of abandoning the field if his “sound bites” dont win the day.
hee hee hee hee Good one Linda!
It seems to me that many of the folks who oppose abortion also oppose ESR… and they also oppose IVF… Now, if they are opposed to IVF, then what do they propose to have happen to the frozen ESC that THEY dont want used to conceive future children??
Also, Seems to me that these frozen “embryos” cant really be called “the unborn” since they are not attached to a uterus??
delsolI never looked at it like that. Your point is valid. I stand corrected. Always fun to watch the fundies run away and hide.
One interesting aspect of any sort of therapy that might be developed from adult cells is that presumably we could then grow tissues that genetically match the patient. In other words, use the patients cells to generate the therapy. I would assume that would eliminate rejection problems.
Tony – two bricks. It will only hurt for a moment!
President Bush is absolutely correct in his veto. Embryonic stem cell research is completely useless and unethical, and is entirely unnecessary, as we have ongoing successes and cures coming again this year from ethical adult stem cell research, starting with the cure for juvenile diabetes. In fact, President Bush should not have authorized the taxpayer funding for the embryonic stem cell research using the stem cell lines from human embryos killed prior to August, 2001, because that useless research is detracting from the funding of successful adult stem cell research, which also shows pluripotent capabilities similar to that of embryonic stem cells. Tumor-causing embryonic stem cells still remain too unstable for human trials, for decades to come
The mouse cells, which have re-activated embryonic genes (inactive DNA in adult cells) are also tumorogenic about 25% of the time.
Can we find the Fountain of Youth in modern science?
Or will we suffer King Midas’ curse having a wish granted that has catastrophic unintended consequences?
This research is pretty frickin amazing. The genetic information contained in a cell is mind-blowing; I didn’t know it had dormant instructions on turning back into a stem cells. Wow and wow.
According to the article, though, the skin cells have been reverted to PLURIPOTENT stem cells. Which means that the only source of TOTIPOTENT stem cells is still embryos (please correct me if I’m wrong).
Googling the terms will give you a definition; I’m lazy.
Also, parkay–stem cell research isn’t valuable just because of the prospect of miracle cures in the next 10 years. Realistically, stem cell research will require years and years of attention before becoming fruitful. It’s more about taking a blank-slate cell and studying to to figure out all of the incredible signanling and development processes it goes through to become a mature cell. The more we learn about a cell’s communication system, the more power we have to fight diseases caused by cell division gone wild.
I don’t think totipotent cells will directly yield cures for diseases (we can’t replicate the exact conditions needed for the cell to develop properly) but there is a TON of information to be gleaned about biology from these cells. That information will be valuable in the long run.
Tara, I think I remember reading one of your posts as a Genetics person or MicroBiology or something to that effect.
If you had to base your career now on what the recent news you heard, which path would you choose?
Embryonic Stem Cells or Adult Stem Cells.
This is a hypothetical question of course.
Also, I think the consensus that research is absolutely useless unless it DIRECTLY BENEFITS HUMAN BEINGS is rather arrogant. An increase in knowledge will benefit the entire world, in the long run.
It depends on what field I worked in, Republican.If my goal was to try and cure cancer, of course I would focus my energy into adult stem cell research, since it seems to offer the best solution in the least amount of time.If I was working purely as an academic, trying to learn new things and get my work published for the benefit of scientists 10-20 years from now, I’d be focusing on embryonic stem cells. There is more potential for an “AHA THIS IS HOW IT ALL HAPPENS!!!1!” moment.
Luckily, I am neither :) I don’t work with anything remotely human.
Tara,
“I don’t work with anything remotely human.”
is that why you enjoy talking to republican ?
Sorry…couldn’t help myself…
Oh, it would also depend on my ability to secure funding. Drug/other private companies are more than willing to fund research that seems “promising” and could include cures for diseases very soon.
For purely academic research that may or may not have relevance in the future, federal funding is pretty much the only option…and that doesn’t look too good right now. So the search for funding would be more involved and difficult.
One of my pet interests is a slimy algae that has a consistancy remarkbly close to something you’d sneeze out of your nose.
Me and Republican should get along just fine ;)
Abortion is all about female sexuality . . . and controlling it.Posted by: CapnAmerica | June 08, 2007 at 08:13 AM
Bingo.
Exactly right.
When I was younger, I used to try to control various females’ sexuality. Never was very good at it though, because I usually struck out.
Kind of like this lame post.