debutaunt.com

Baby Stem Cells, Bush and his Beto Powah

I'm sick of this debate. I don't care much for Mr. Bush. But am I mad that he did the whole veto thing on embryonic stem cells? No. I'm actually not.

Many people are pretty much up in arms over his veto. I was reading a forum about this discussion and here is what I have to say.

I'm a Catholic. And not quite as conservative as my parents, but I feel myself drifting in that direction. I could link tons of links, but I won't. Maybe a few because I read about this issue all the time as I wonder why so many people refuse to sign up on the National Bone Marrow Registry.

Especially you all who are up in a buttwad over Bush's veto and the embryonic stem cell research debate. Do you really even understand the debate? Or do you just hate Bush and anything he does?

Are you on the NMDP list? You know, THE LIST THAT CAN AND HAS SAVED MANY LIVES? Not potentially, but really.

What it boils down to for me is that adult stem cells offer hope, not hype. This country's obsession over this debate takes away funding and exposure for REAL cures with ADULT stem cells.

Part of the debate that some people don't know is that there is no ban on embryonic stem cell research. The research’s been going on for a while now. The controversy comes in because some people think a) we are killing fetuses/lives and/or b) we should not have to personally fund all of it - let the bio-tech and private firms fund it since they will largely with big bucks benefit from it if it works.

I’m more of Camp b). Why should we pay for something that is a might be, especially when adult stem cells are proven to be successful? They probably would be even more so if there wasn't such crap going on with the damn embryo debates. Many of the adult stem cell success has even come from other countries because we in the US are so busy humping the potential of embryonic cells.

“No one should think that the stem cell debate forces us to choose between ethics and science,” she added. “We can support both. There is no need to sell our souls in the quest to heal our bodies.”

I don't know exactly how I feel about aborted fetuses, extra embryos being used, etc. etc. And I'm not really about to debate that. Personally I think that's between you and your God of choice, but I can see both sides so it's not an either or for me.

But I am about saving lives NOW with something that works.

Ok. As most of you know, I've actually received stem cells, ADULT ONES, donated to me by my brother, and so far so good. Cured of leukemia. That's right CURED. My transplant nurse at MD Anderson is over 17 years out - yes YEARS from her bone marrow/stem cell transplant. There are some of us out here already, but the numbers are growing by the day.

From this link - Proponents of embryonic stem cell research have created a false impression that these cells have a proven therapeutic use. On Nightline on June 20, for example, Ted Koppel said that while adult stem cells have some uses, embryonic stem cells are "the most successful to date." In fact the embryonic cells have never helped a human patient; any claim that they may someday do so is guesswork. Adult stem cells have proven benefits, and new uses are constantly being found.

Current Clinical Use of Adult Stem Cells to Help Human Patients:
Autoimmune diseases (multiple sclerosis, lupus, juvenile and other rheumatoid arthritis)
Stroke
Immunodeficiencies, including a new treatment for severe combined immune deficiency (when used with gene therapy)
Anemia
Epstein-Barr virus infection
Corneal damage (full vision restored in most patients treated in clinical trials)
Blood and liver diseases
Osteogenesis imperfecta.
Cancer treatment (in combination with chemotherapy and/or radiation):
Brain tumors
Retinoblastoma
Ovarian cancer
Solid tumors
Testicular cancer
Multiple myeloma, leukemias
Breast cancer
Neuroblastoma
Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
Renal cell carcinoma
Cardiac repair after heart attack (clinical trials announced Spring 2001)
Type I diabetes (not stem cells as such, but pancreatic islet cells from donors)
Cartilage and bone damage.

Some embryonic stem cells have actually been shown to cause tumors as they are very genetically unstable. "’...with embryonic stem cells, a significant number become cancer cells, so the cure could be worse than the disease. And they can be very difficult to grow, while adult stem cells are very easy to grow.’" Also, "...so these cells [adult stem cells] are less likely to form tumors, a tendency in embryonic stem cells that has barred them from use in human trials."

NO embryonic cells have ever been shown to cure any human beings... why? Because they can potentially cause cancer... so they got BANNED from human trials. Got that?

Yes, I know some of these links are from Catholic publications (so obviously they must be fake or skewed - uh, whatever - Catholics aren't the only ones opposed to embryonic research), but they come from articles in publications such as the Washington Post, Scientific American, The Times (London) and from research facilities like: The Scripps Research Institute, New York University School of Medicine, UT at MD Anderson, Cornell University Medical College, the University of Minnesota, the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey, Argonne National Laboratory outside Chicago, New York University, Yale and Johns Hopkins. There are many others that work with adult stem cell research because the breakthroughs are many and the cures have been happening.

“New Studies Show Promise for Ethical Stem Cell Research” Interesting Link

Some of the titles are just cool and exciting to me:

And this link:

SCIENCE NEWS (Scientific American) http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=E3DA1666-E7F2-99DF-3D596D3DE6D0976A&chanID=sa003
May 31, 2007 Newfound Stem Cells May Lead to Regenerative Therapies for Damaged Muscles. The discovery of versatile stem cells in muscle tissue could help combat the progression of muscular dystrophy.

If nothing, please read these links before you reply to my post. Use your brain and don’t rely on some fake bullshit that these movies stars and politicians blather about, and try to do your own thinking for once on a subject. I love MJ Fox as much as the next gal, but if he put his power, energy, efforts behind adult stem cell research, I bet he might be much more successful in finding a true cure. Faster and more reliably.

Here are some answers to the FAQ about stem cells and why people oppose the research on embryonic stem cells:

Link to - Scientific Experts Agree: Embryonic Stem Cells Are Unnecessary for Medical Progress

HIGHLIGHTS from this link:

“As compared to embryonic stem cells, adult derived stem cells are endowed with additional developmental instructions and may be better suited for therapeutic purposes. According to [Dr. Shahin Rafii of Cornell University Medical College], ‘We are approaching a day when a patient’s own stem cells can be induced to divide and develop into tissue that can replace that which is diseased or destroyed, making overcrowded organ transplant lists and rejection of foreign tissues a thing of the past’.”

***

Of particular note, local favorite of mine:
A team from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston recently repaired heart muscles in animals by injecting them with stem cells extracted from human blood. It’s the stem-cell equivalent of Columbus reaching America: Not only would cells harvested from one's own body eliminate the risk that they would be rejected, but obtaining them would be a simple, painless proposition.

“‘This work gives us a way to get the cells that's as easy as giving a blood sample,’ says Edward Yeh, M.D., lead author of the study. The real mind boggler is what the stem cells might mean to the 1.2 million Americans who suffer heart attacks each year.”

***

“Umbilical cords discarded after birth may offer a vast new source of repair material for fixing brains damaged by strokes and other ills, free of the ethical concerns surrounding the use of fetal tissue, researchers said Sunday.”

***

Commenting on a study by researchers at New York University, Yale and Johns Hopkins:

“‘There is a cell in the bone marrow that can serve as the stem cell for most, if not all, of the organs in the body,’ says Neil Theise, M.D., Associate Professor of Pathology at NYU School of Medicine... ‘(t)his study provides the strongest evidence yet that the adult body harbors stem cells that are as flexible as embryonic stem cells’.”

***

“A team of Texas and British researchers says it has produced large amounts of embryoniclike stem cells from umbilical cord blood, potentially ending the ethical debate affecting stem-cell research -- the need to kill human embryos. The international researchers said the cells -- called cord-blood-derived-embryoniclike stem cells, or CBEs -- have the ability to turn into any kind of body tissue, like embryonic stem cells do, and can be mass-produced using technology derived from NASA....

“Scientists believe the ability to replicate tissue could lead to the development of ways to replace organs as well as treat life-threatening diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, which have been the focus of stem-cell research.”

***

“New surgery which has apparently helped some paraplegics walk could be performed in Dunedin later this year as part of an international trial, a city neurosurgeon says.

“The surgery used stem cells from the patients’ noses to partially repair their spinal cords, Dunedin Hospital neurosurgeon and Professor of Bioethics Grant Gillett said yesterday.”

[didn't know you had stem cells in yer nose, did ya?]

***

“PharmaFrontiers (a Woodlands, Tx firm) has an exclusive contract to develop stem cells that are created from monocyte white blood cells taken from adult blood donations....

“Stem cell treatment for diabetes and heart failure should be commercially available in five to six years, company CEO Dave McWilliams said. ‘The technology actually allows us to change the cells to stem cells and then change them into any type of cell we want,’ he said.’ ...

“There is no one in the United States currently working on any treatment studies using embryonic stem cells, McWilliams said.”

There is more. Much more. But I’ll stop linking. It’s hurting my brain.

So what can you do?

Spread this link around. If you blog, blog about it. Myspacer it. Forum post a link here. I mean if you are going to debate it to death, at least know what the other side is talking about. Otherwise you are just a blowhole. Here is the link to this entry: http://www.debutaunt.com/archives/001168.php#001168

Join the NMDP registry. Don’t be a damn chicken.

Oh, and give blood. I don’t want excuses. If you are not able, or are too chickenshit, make someone else donate for you. Convince them that Jesus or Buddha or Jimmie Hendrix, Radiohead or Jay Z would do it. Or that it is cool. Heck, some people are now donating blood and then drinking afterwards because they can get a better buzz off less alcohol. Not that I’m recommending that or anything, I’m just sayin’. If you can’t do it, get someone else to take your place. It’s never important until it hits your friends or loved ones. Well I can tell you that everyone who receives blood has friends or loved ones that are fighting and praying for them to live. And so many of them need blood.

If you are pregnant, demand that your baby’s umbilical cord blood be stored.

Call your hospital and tell them that they should start the program there if they don't already have it. Only one hospital in San Antonio will collect for the local bank, that's crazy. So talk to your hospital and tell them they should. Or find a hospital that will. You can actually store it for FREE in the National Registry. Yes, you may not get your own if you should unfortunately need them, but heck; there are what in the US? Four million births a year? Thassa lotta stem cells right dere.

Even if you donate it to a private bank, who is to say that they will still be in business 10 or 15 years from now? Or that the cord blood stem cells will actually be viable so many years from now. It's expensive. And potentially not life saving if they went bankrupt or the cells are no good.

Stop spreading rumors and nonsense.

If the cure for AIDS was on the brink - or even had shown results, why reinvent the wheel on a what if? Especially if that ‘what if’ takes away potential funding monies or attention from the AIDS cure. Why aren’t diseases cured already? Well I know conspiracy theories abound, but I think partially because the funding is going out to half-cracked researchers on "maybe" proposals.

Don’t donate money to people who just want you to wear a wristband or slap a magnet on your car.

Help fund real research and those people who fund it. Like the Leukemia Society, MD Anderson, or other hospitals who are doing research on adult stem cells. Yes, my Lance Armstrong wants you to Livestrong with his little yellow rubber bracelet, but the man also donates money to research. I’d like him to pay more attention to adult stem cell research… but our time will come. Soon. I’m pretty sure that when you donate to a reputable organization that you can also earmark it to be used specifically and only for research.

Please help end the debate. With adult stem cells, real advances are being proven and are curing people.

I hope to be one of them. For a long ass time.

I can do this. I am a supporter of adult stem cell research and I approve of this message.

No assignment for today. Just be informed before you flap your gums!

Posted by debutaunt at June 21, 2007 11:06 AM