To Join or Not to Join?
To Join or Not to Join?
An AP story reprinted widely (I read it on the Miami Herald because that was what popped up first) discusses the dilemma that stem cell research labs have about the recently created national stem cell bank in Madison, Wisconsin. Some labs prefer to bank their own stem cells, rather than depositing them at the WiCell lab. Some researchers wonder what the quality control methods will be. Others don’t want to use the federally approved stem cell lines at all, because they were contaminated with mouse feeder cells and are therefore unusable for human treatment. A spokesman for the bank said that it would at least be a place where researchers can easily order cells at a fraction of the current cost and get reliable information on their DNA makeup.
Researchers who depend upon the federally funded lines are at a serious disadvantage compared to those who can use embryonic stem cells developed elsewhere. If this is not already a major problem for research in the United States, it will soon become one. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me for NIH to put money into a facility that people will not be using because there are better resources elsewhere; but on the other hand, NIH can’t really put it anywhere better, because of the federal funding restrictions.
1 Comments:
Should our government pay for research on death row inmates, terminally ill patients, or abandoned children? No.
What if this research could potentially benefit people who were suffering and had families that needed and wanted them? Definitely not.
However, what if the subjects were so young they couldn’t speak up to defend themselves as they were ripped to shreds to harvest stem cells? The answer is “Absolutely Yes!” and the state of Wisconsin wants to pay for that.
Embryonic stem cell banks are an unnecessary evil that Human Life Alliance opposes. There should be a national stem cell bank created with strictly adult and cord blood stem cells. This type of research is highly effective in treating or curing over 80 different diseases. Just this past week, singer Don Ho received a stem cell treatment using his own blood that may be instrumental in saving his life.
To date, there have been zero successful embryonic stem cell treatments—only disastrous stories of tumors and further damage caused by trying to use this unethical treatment. The fact that researchers are now creating life for the express purpose of destroying it (therapeutic cloning) is revolting.
We should not stand by and allow these children to be torn apart and used for research. Instead, let’s focus our efforts on expanding the successful and ethical solutions of adult and cord blood stem cell treatments rather than causing more deaths in our search for cures.
Jo Tolck
Executive Director
Human Life Alliance
651-484-1040
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