Saturday, December 19, 2009

Stem Cells - Four


I found this on CNN’s mobile, and a search showed it on their regular Internet site.

The article begins: “If you've just had your first heart attack, doctors may one day be able to reverse the damage done with stem cell therapy.”

It’s called “a step forward”, “results are a milestone in stem cell research.”

"The particular kind of cells used in this research are called mesenchymal stem cells, and come from adults, not embryos."

"Jeffrey Karp, a researcher at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, who runs a stem cell biology lab at Harvard University. He was not involved in the study." Karp is quoted: "More broadly, besides bone marrow transplantations, there have not been any major successes in the stem cell field in terms of helping large numbers of patients"

May I take a moment to state openly, “I told you so!” In
June, 2008, and again in March, 2009. Then there were the fat cells in September, 2009.

How ironic after years of conflict over the ethics of embryonic stem cell research – and it’s proponents disregard for adult or umbilical cord stem cell research – that no embryos were created/killed for these results.

The article states: “There are several advantages to using mesenchymal stem cells for heart therapy. First, they are adult stem cells, so there are no ethical issues that surround research on embryonic stem cells. Secondly, at least from a safety perspective, mesenchymal stem cells do not require matching -- any donor can give cells to any other donor, and no immunosuppresant drugs are necessary, he [Karp] said… “

There is no scientific evidence, no proof as to when life begins. Arbitrary legal decisions indicate at birth – yet live birth abortions are allowed and an unborn who dies because of a mother’s death can be considered murder. With these inconsistencies, why not error on the side of caution? Why not protect human rights at the beginning of humanity?

All of the above does not consider the one aspect important to me personally. Based on my Bible, human life begins at conception.

Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. (Psalms 139:16 KJV)

But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. (Matthew 10:30 KJV)

Human embryos should do nothing more than grow and continue as human beings.


(Cornell University’s
Vivian Chang has an interesting article on this subject and the NIH’s limits on embryonic research.)

3 comments:

  1. Stem cell therapy is set to become a major part of ATS, cancer, hearing loss treatments and of course plastic surgery. The need is however, is to ensure that these are stored in perfect condition before actually getting transplanted to the receiver’s body. This has made the industry of 'controlled rate freezers' to grow at a fast pace to keep up with the demand. I am doing a paper on ‘The Uses of Stem Cell Therapy and the Techniques of Storing Them’ and found your post valuable.

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  2. What an excellent article!!! Thank you for posting this!

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  3. HI, thanks for your kind words on my blog(Ambassador for Christ)regarding Calvinism. May be the only kind words I get! Let me encourage you to read a book by Dave Hunt titled, "What love is This?". excellent book but lengthy. Have a great day. David

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