I said IF, and that's a big IF, and I stand by it's conditions 110%!
8)



I wasn't referring to that statement. "It's not an individual human being, it's a microscopic blob of undifferentiated cellular matter" I was referring to this one that does not have the saving "I believe, or according to world renouned scientist".

There are 2 things going on in the news that I thought were newsworthy in the debate about Stem Cells.

First off, you have Congress passing a bill to provide funding for embryonic stem cell research.  However, it is unlikely that thiss will happen.  That is because it passed by a slim margin, and will not be able to over-ride the threatened Presidential veto.

However, there is something else that is being talked about even less.  I am not sure if anybody else out there reads the "Scientific American" magazine, but the cover and leading article of the July issue is Stem Cells and a link to cancer.

It seems that there are several forms of cancer that can be traced to Stem Cells.  This can explain why people can go into remission, then months or years later come back with the cancer again.  While the active tumor is destroyed or removed, the "genetic code" of the cancer lives on in the body, stored in Stem Cells.  And at a later date, these cells get triggered and the cancer returns.  This seems to be the dominant case of the return of some forms of cancer, including cancer of the blood and skin.

Here is a paragraph from the article:

Indeed, stem cells' longevity would explain why many cancers develop decades after tissues are subjected to radiation--the initial injury may be only the first in a series of mutations required to transform a healthy cell into a malignant one. In addition to accumulating and preserving these oncogenic scars, a stem cell's enormous proliferative capacity makes it an ideal target for malignancy. Because nature so strictly regulates self-renewal, a cell population already possessing that ability would need fewer additional mutations for malignant transformation than would cells lacking that capacity.

Here is the entire article if anybody else is interested in reading it.  I warn you now, it is quite long, and somewhat technical.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=1&articleID=000B1BED-0C0A-1498-8C0A83414B7F0000

The stem cell debate is going exactly like the global warming debate.

Journals will publish findings of studies in all scientic fields. When the American Right, beholden to corporate greed and religious fanaticism, can find an article contradictory of a scentific consensus, they will showcase the article in attempt to discredit scientific consensus in public opinion. Cherry-picking for political favorability, if you will.
:P

I did not see any reason from the article's conclusion to ban the federal funding of stem cell research. I saw no conclusion from S.A article to suggest Clarke and Becker don't believe stem sells are not medically useful for treating a whole myriad of diseases and injuries. They are looking at evidence indicating stem cells may turn malignant in certain cancer treatments. The article presented indication that stem cell research may help scientists hunt down the carconogenic "killer cells." I am not a microbiologist, I am not an oncologist, so I am not qualified to critique the study , but Clarke and Becker's work should receive vigorous peer review. Neither Clarke nor Becker, nor their peers in the scientific community, will caution the medical establishment on when and when not to use stem cell therapy because stem cells make Baby Jesus cry.

Unfortunately, the funny-mentalists in charge of the political purse strings will. Bush is not one of them, however. He is a total cynic. He cares nothing for life. He could not sign enough death warrants when he was Texas governor to satiate his passion for homicide solutions. Bush has shows no remorse--or even awareness--for the excruciating deaths occurring every hour of the day because of his futile occupation of Iraq. Bush cast his first veto in six years of his ill-gotten presidency as just another political grandstanding technique.
Sick and wrong.

bump

The stem cell debate is going exactly like the global warming debate.

Journals will publish findings of studies in all scientic fields. When the American Right, beholden to corporate greed and religious fanaticism, can find an article contradictory of a scentific consensus, they will showcase the article in attempt to discredit scientific consensus in public opinion. Cherry-picking for political favorability, if you will.



bump


Actually, my concern is that Stem Cells simply are not fully understood.  And it seems that every time they find a condition that it may help, they then find something else that it may make even worse.

Hey look, Stem Cells cured my Parkinsons!  Gee, to bad I now have a brain tumor.

Myself, I have no problem with Stem Cell research per se.  However, I think it would be much more usefull (and less controversial) to investigate other ways to obtain and work with them.  Umbilical Stem cells are thrown away every day in this country, and almost no research is done there.  The same thing with Adult Stem Cells.  In fact, some researchers are starting to concentrate on the Adult variations, because they seem to have a much lower risk of changing into cancer cells.

And with anything "genetic", we can be opening a Pandora's Box if we are not careful.  I find it interesting that a lot of the same people that protest genetic engineering of plants and animals turn right around and endorse it in people.  Maybe they would stop if we started to endorse cannibalism.  :D

A lot of research in immunology and cancer biology is done with cord blood. 

I would advocate stem cell research if I were in a position of power, but I can understand how it would be weird for people to balk at it since the only method of getting stem cells is from an aborted fetus or a miscarriage...icky.

The adult human has very few cells that actually present totipotency, so adults wouldn't actually be a good source.

But even if you advocated stem cell as a viable research tool, don't you think it's kinda weird to say, "Hey, they're gonna toss out these fetuses anyway, why not use them for some good?"  It's for a good cause, it just sounds WEIRD.

I would advocate stem cell research if I were in a position of power, but I can understand how it would be weird for people to balk at it since the only method of getting stem cells is from an aborted fetus or a miscarriage...icky.


Actually, that is not true.  The Umbilical Cord and placental blood is also full of Stem Cells.  And currently, it is just thrown away as "medical waste".  This is a potentially huge source of Stem Cells, which does not involve any of the "distastefull practices" that cause a lot of people to oppose Stem Cells.

There is also Adult Stem Cells.  The biggest difference is that in Adults, they are basically tissue matched, so have the same chances (currently) of being rejected, just like any tissue donation.  However, one of the largest advantages of Adult Stem Cells is that they are also "mature", and less likely to cause tumors in use.

Everybody has Stem Cells.  It is a key part of our genetic code.  However, embryos have a larger percentage of them, because they are still developing.  The Stem Cell is part of the basic building block of a person (or any other living creature).  A Stem Cell for the kidney for example is responsible for making all of the other cells that will become a kidney.  It is possible (theoretically) to implant a kidney stem cell, and regrow a diseased kidney.  Theoretically, this can also be done with neurological diseases and injuries like paralysis, Parkinsons, and Alzhimers.  It may even be possible to regrow teeth with Stem Cells.

But this is all a long ways off.  And like I said earlier, the thought that in some dystopian future we may have "Embryo Farms" disturbes the frack out of me.  Because of this, I do not want to see the use of Embryonic Stem Cells.  Because if a way is found useing them, I am sure that people will encourage the continued use of them because they are easy.

From then, it is only a matter of time until countries with overpopulation and a poor economy may resort to selling embryos for medical purposes.  My opposition to Embryonic Stem Cell research has nothing to do with politics or religious beliefs.  I simply look 20-30 years into the future to see what may become of it, and it disturbs me greatly.  I would be very comfortable however and support research into Adult and Umbilical (and placental) Stem Cell research.  I find very few ways this can be exploited in that way.

Ah, stem cells on the black market.  That is pretty wacky, although it does sound feasible  :o

Actually, that is not true.  The Umbilical Cord and placental blood is also full of Stem Cells.  And currently
But this is all a long ways off.  And like I said earlier, the thought that in some dystopian future we may have "Embryo Farms" disturbes the frack out of me.  Because of this, I do not want to see the use of Embryonic Stem Cells.  Because if a way is found useing them, I am sure that people will encourage the continued use of them because they are easy.

From then, it is only a matter of time until countries with overpopulation and a poor economy may resort to selling embryos for medical purposes.  My opposition to Embryonic Stem Cell research has nothing to do with politics or religious beliefs. 


Serious question:  What creeps you out about it?

Silly question: China is now our "Body Bank" (Episode 3, 1987).  "Baby Growbags" (Episode 14, unaired in North America until 1997) is one of the few Max Headroom Episodes that has yet to come true in real life.  (By my count, Episode 10 and Episode 14, and maybe Episode 12 are the only ones that haven't come true in some form or another.)

What "fracks me out" is how a cabal of superstitious medieval clerics is informing my government about what medical research it may or may not fund. 

These far-right Mammon-worshipping antinomians pervert the Christian faith.  They promote war, greed, and capitalism--all antithetical to everything Jesus taught.  They love social Darwinism and hate real Darwinism.  The biology that demonstrates the Theory of Evolution is sinful.  The physics that inform the building of atomic weapons is God's own.  WTF?  Sick of this rubbish!

"Embryo farms"?  Talk about your right-wing scare tactics.  How about let's get this country back on track so China doesn't own us, so we don't have to work three jobs to make ends meet, so we can save the middle class, so all citizens get the basic healthcare they need, and so there are no American children going to bed hungry?  How about dismantling our useless and deadly occupation of Iraq? How about tweaking our neo-con governance just a bit to get those things done, then maybe we talk a bit about whether the feds should fund stem cell research, eh?

I mean, Jesus H.P. Lovecraft!
::)