Here's good factual information on the debate over stem cell research. ASCR is adult stem cell research and ESCR is embryonic stem cell research in the following and bold are mine:
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There are two main reasons to support adult stem cell research over the alternative: the success rate of ASCR and the incredible obstacles blocking ESC treatments. There isn't enough space here to describe all that ASCR has accomplished. It has already successfully treated or cured more than 70 diseases and conditions (see www.stemcellresearch.org/facts/asc-refs.pdf), including some “miracle cures” of those who were previously paralyzed.
Further, it avoids tissue-rejection problems. ASCs have already successfully developed into nerve, brain, and heart tissue, thought to be the hardest tissues to replicate ; in fact, scientists' opinion of the overall pluripotency of ASCs, especially from bone marrow, has been upgraded substantially (American Society of Hematology, December 12, 2005, press release). New methods of multiplying ASCs “allow [them] to be grown in sufficient quantities to permit far more research—and allow faster growth of tissues that can be transplanted into patients” (“From One Cell, Many Possible Cures,” Florida State University press release). And new sources of adult stem cells, some with the same pluripotency and self-renewability of ESCs, are being discovered all the time.
With embryonic stem cell research, we have the opposite problem. First, ESCs have neither cured nor treated any diseases or medical conditions in human beings to date. In order to avoid tissue rejection with ESCs, human cloning would be necessary. Somatic cell nuclear transfer is an eight-step process, meaning that there are more opportunities for error to be introduced into the process than with ASCs—not to mention that human cloning has never yet been successful, nor is likely to be successful without literally dozens of donated eggs per attempt. (Bioethicist and ESCR supporter Art Caplan admits that, in cloning three dogs—only two of which survived to birth—Dr. Hwang used 1,000 dog egg cells.) Peer-reviewed research in the journals Somatosensory and Motor Research and American Journal of Pathology indicates that embryonic cells injected into mice often do not cure them, but instead create tumors. Even when they don't directly form tumors, the journals Nature Genetics and Nature Biotechnology note that they still develop genetic abnormalities associated with cancer—partially the result of their energetic ability to develop into many different cell types, which can be hard to control.
Finally, James Sherley, associate professor of biological engineering at MIT, points out that ESCs are not able to survive the body's cell turnover (where older cells are replaced with new ones), whereas ASCs are made to survive the process (“To Clone or Not to Clone,” www.mercatornet.com). The obstacles facing those pursuing medical treatments using ESCs are so great that Dr. Douglas W. Losordo, chief of cardiovascular research at Boston's Caritas St. Elizabeth's Medical Center, said, “I think embryonic stem cells are going to fade in the rear-view mirror of adult stem cells.” Michael Fumento, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, agreed: “Embryonic stem cell research is so far behind it's like a joke. . . . We're getting everything we need out of non embryonic stem cells, and what we're getting is incredible.” To date, there have been nearly 1,200 human trials (either active or completed) with ASCs, but zero—none even in the planning stages—for ESCs (www.clinicaltrials.gov). The logic is simple: If a non-destructive option exists and has proven successful, isn't it better than one that is destructive, unpredictable, and as yet unsuccessful? A final caveat: There are some newly proposed methods of ESCR that are non-fatal; crisis columnist Senator Rick Santorum, in fact, recently co-sponsored legislation that would increase funding for this avenue of research. There isn't the space here to go into the details of these studies; see “‘ Ethical' Embryonic Stem Cell Research?” on the Web at www.cbhd.org/resources/stemcells/mcconc … -06-10.htm for more information, or “Anti-Science? Pro-Life Dream Team Confronts Embryonic Stem Cell Juggernaut” in the January 2006 issue of crisis . Suffice it to say that in the future, scientists may be able to harvest embryonic stem cells without destroying the embryo. While there is some controversy over the process, some prominent Catholic bioethicists are cautiously optimistic that at least one of these new theories could prove morally acceptable.
MYTH: Embryonic stem cell research is illegal.
FACT: As pro-ESCR journalist William Saletan wrote on Slate.com, “No such ban exists. Embryonic stem cell research is unrestricted in the private sector.” The point is that private researchers are choosing not to proceed without federal funding—they're too afraid of getting stuck with the bill if the research fails to pan out.
MYTH: Embryonic stem cells are not human
FACT: While ESCR supporters may dance around the question of where life actually begins, Professor Sherley puts it bluntly: “There is no credible scientific debate on whether human embryos are alive and human.” Embryology textbooks universally agree : “The development of a human begins with conception” ( Langman's Medical Embryology ); “the time of fertilization represents the starting point in the life history, or ontogeny, of the individual” ( Patten's Foundations of Embryology ); “the [zygote] results from the union of an oocyte [egg cell] and a sperm during fertilization. A zygote is the beginning of a new human being” ( The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology ). Princeton University Professor of Jurisprudence Robert P. George writes, “The embryonic, fetal, infant, child and adolescent states are stages of development of a determinate and enduring entity—a human being—who comes into existence as a zygote and develops by a gradual and gapless process into adulthood many years later.” And after all, if the cells aren't human, what else could they be? Butterflies? Worms? Goats? If they aren't human, what good would the research do? The answer is obvious once the question is stated plainly, and objections simply fall apart.
MYTH: Cures from ESCR are coming soon.
FACT: ESCR supporter Professor Lord Robert Winston, at a special lecture, admitted, “I am not entirely convinced that embryonic stem cells will, in my lifetime, and possibly anyone's lifetime for that matter, be holding quite the promise that we desperately hope they will.” Columnist and ESCR promoter Cynthia Tucker freely admits that “some of those cures could be decades away.” South Korean ESCR expert Curie Ahn is quoted as saying that cures might take “three to five decades.” Smart money is on the probability that successful ESC therapies will be nowhere near ready for literally decades, if at all—while successful ASC therapies are already in use. For example, people in the advanced stages of Parkinson's are being told that there is no cure, when ASCR has already lead to a reduction of symptoms, according to two articles in the journal Nature Medicine . Victims of diseases like Parkinson's and juvenile diabetes shouldn't be forced to wait for ESCR to play catch-up.
MYTH: A majority of Americans support taxpayer funding of ESCR.
FACT: Poll results are frequently used in support of this argument, and yet questions in these polls are often misleading to the point of rendering their results meaningless. The U.S. Newswire , for example, reported in May 2006 that “nearly three-quarters of Americans support embryonic stem cell research,” but this doesn't address whether they support taxpayer funding for it—an important distinction. Additionally, many poll questions about ESCR include a preface that inflates the research's possibilities, falsely claims that ESCR will only involve “leftover” embryos from fertility clinics, or fails to mention that the research destroys human embryos. What's more, some poll questions ask about “stem cell research” instead of “ embryonic stem cell research”—a crucial distinction.
When all is said and done, only 39 percent of voters actually support taxpayer funding of embryo-destructive research , according to an International Communications Research poll from May of this year. Another question in the same poll revealed that 81 percent of Americans oppose using human cloning techniques to create embryos fated to be destroyed for the sake of science.
MYTH: ESCR is a promising avenue of research for Alzheimer's disease.
FACT: ESCR is extremely unlikely to be successful in treating Alzheimer's. Stem cell therapies are envisioned for use when one particular set of cells isn't functioning properly, as in the case of diabetes or Parkinson's disease. But as Dr. T. John Martin, emeritus professor of medicine at the University of Melbourne, points out, “Alzheimer's is a global condition of the brain and its causes are unknown. . . . It is virtually impossible to conceive that any form of cell therapy could be helpful with Alzheimer's disease.”
On the other hand, ESCR could be useful in terms of discovering how Alzheimer's develops— if you're willing to create ESC lines, change their genes so that the lines develop Alzheimer's, turn them into brain cells, and watch them deteriorate, like a modern-day Tuskegee experiment. Alternatively, you could develop a library of stem cell lines—perhaps a thousand or more—and turn all the lines into brain cells, and then observe them to see which ones actually develop Alzheimer's, thus isolating the genetic component behind the disease. You could also add chemicals to various petri dishes to try to induce Alzheimer's in the healthy lines.
Of course, you would have to kill thousands of human embryos to develop that library, but that's no obstacle to researchers like Larry Goldstein, the chairman of the International Society for Stem Cell Research's Government Affairs Committee, who proposed these two research methodologies to Congress on June 8, 2005. Another suggested method is to create mouse–human combinations, called “chimeras,” by injecting about 100,000 human ESCs into the brains of mice to study how human brain cells will respond to various procedures. But none of these ideas implies a “cure” for Alzheimer's. So why, if no cure is forthcoming, is Alzheimer's routinely mentioned as a disease likely to be cured by ESCR? National Institutes of Health stem cell expert Ronald McKay puts it bluntly: “People need a fairy tale.”
MYTH: ESCR is pure science.
FACT: While scientists are indeed fascinated by the potential of ESCR, there are also huge financial possibilities at stake . Research advocate and biotech writer James P. Kelly of the Seoul Times explained one of the reasons why he no longer supports ESCR: “I overlooked the fact that the scientists and industries urging us to travel the longest, most problem-filled paths to treatments and cures depend on the continued existence of disability and disease for their funding, profits, careers, and existence.” A Web site sponsored by the Human Genome Project points out that, since ESCR involves the creation of cell lines, those lines “are technically patentable. . . . Patents could discourage product development because of high royalty costs owed to all patent owners of that sequence; these are costs that will likely be passed on to the consumer.” On the other hand, ASCR involves techniques that can be repeated on different patients. Techniques are non-patentable—you can only patent a product or a design—so there is no potential for price-gouging with ASCR.
If ASCR and ESCR both result in treatments and cures, but only ESCR results in patents and profits, which would big business likely support? This is an example of the health-care industry's obsession with profits over patients—a theme that will resonate with many Democrats.
________
Eric Pavlat is a board member of Democrats for Life of Maryland, Inc.
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There are two main reasons to support adult stem cell research over the alternative: the success rate of ASCR and the incredible obstacles blocking ESC treatments. There isn't enough space here to describe all that ASCR has accomplished. It has already successfully treated or cured more than 70 diseases and conditions (see www.stemcellresearch.org/facts/asc-refs.pdf), including some “miracle cures” of those who were previously paralyzed.
Further, it avoids tissue-rejection problems. ASCs have already successfully developed into nerve, brain, and heart tissue, thought to be the hardest tissues to replicate ; in fact, scientists' opinion of the overall pluripotency of ASCs, especially from bone marrow, has been upgraded substantially (American Society of Hematology, December 12, 2005, press release). New methods of multiplying ASCs “allow [them] to be grown in sufficient quantities to permit far more research—and allow faster growth of tissues that can be transplanted into patients” (“From One Cell, Many Possible Cures,” Florida State University press release). And new sources of adult stem cells, some with the same pluripotency and self-renewability of ESCs, are being discovered all the time.
With embryonic stem cell research, we have the opposite problem. First, ESCs have neither cured nor treated any diseases or medical conditions in human beings to date. In order to avoid tissue rejection with ESCs, human cloning would be necessary. Somatic cell nuclear transfer is an eight-step process, meaning that there are more opportunities for error to be introduced into the process than with ASCs—not to mention that human cloning has never yet been successful, nor is likely to be successful without literally dozens of donated eggs per attempt. (Bioethicist and ESCR supporter Art Caplan admits that, in cloning three dogs—only two of which survived to birth—Dr. Hwang used 1,000 dog egg cells.) Peer-reviewed research in the journals Somatosensory and Motor Research and American Journal of Pathology indicates that embryonic cells injected into mice often do not cure them, but instead create tumors. Even when they don't directly form tumors, the journals Nature Genetics and Nature Biotechnology note that they still develop genetic abnormalities associated with cancer—partially the result of their energetic ability to develop into many different cell types, which can be hard to control.
Finally, James Sherley, associate professor of biological engineering at MIT, points out that ESCs are not able to survive the body's cell turnover (where older cells are replaced with new ones), whereas ASCs are made to survive the process (“To Clone or Not to Clone,” www.mercatornet.com). The obstacles facing those pursuing medical treatments using ESCs are so great that Dr. Douglas W. Losordo, chief of cardiovascular research at Boston's Caritas St. Elizabeth's Medical Center, said, “I think embryonic stem cells are going to fade in the rear-view mirror of adult stem cells.” Michael Fumento, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, agreed: “Embryonic stem cell research is so far behind it's like a joke. . . . We're getting everything we need out of non embryonic stem cells, and what we're getting is incredible.” To date, there have been nearly 1,200 human trials (either active or completed) with ASCs, but zero—none even in the planning stages—for ESCs (www.clinicaltrials.gov). The logic is simple: If a non-destructive option exists and has proven successful, isn't it better than one that is destructive, unpredictable, and as yet unsuccessful? A final caveat: There are some newly proposed methods of ESCR that are non-fatal; crisis columnist Senator Rick Santorum, in fact, recently co-sponsored legislation that would increase funding for this avenue of research. There isn't the space here to go into the details of these studies; see “‘ Ethical' Embryonic Stem Cell Research?” on the Web at www.cbhd.org/resources/stemcells/mcconc … -06-10.htm for more information, or “Anti-Science? Pro-Life Dream Team Confronts Embryonic Stem Cell Juggernaut” in the January 2006 issue of crisis . Suffice it to say that in the future, scientists may be able to harvest embryonic stem cells without destroying the embryo. While there is some controversy over the process, some prominent Catholic bioethicists are cautiously optimistic that at least one of these new theories could prove morally acceptable.
MYTH: Embryonic stem cell research is illegal.
FACT: As pro-ESCR journalist William Saletan wrote on Slate.com, “No such ban exists. Embryonic stem cell research is unrestricted in the private sector.” The point is that private researchers are choosing not to proceed without federal funding—they're too afraid of getting stuck with the bill if the research fails to pan out.
MYTH: Embryonic stem cells are not human
FACT: While ESCR supporters may dance around the question of where life actually begins, Professor Sherley puts it bluntly: “There is no credible scientific debate on whether human embryos are alive and human.” Embryology textbooks universally agree : “The development of a human begins with conception” ( Langman's Medical Embryology ); “the time of fertilization represents the starting point in the life history, or ontogeny, of the individual” ( Patten's Foundations of Embryology ); “the [zygote] results from the union of an oocyte [egg cell] and a sperm during fertilization. A zygote is the beginning of a new human being” ( The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology ). Princeton University Professor of Jurisprudence Robert P. George writes, “The embryonic, fetal, infant, child and adolescent states are stages of development of a determinate and enduring entity—a human being—who comes into existence as a zygote and develops by a gradual and gapless process into adulthood many years later.” And after all, if the cells aren't human, what else could they be? Butterflies? Worms? Goats? If they aren't human, what good would the research do? The answer is obvious once the question is stated plainly, and objections simply fall apart.
MYTH: Cures from ESCR are coming soon.
FACT: ESCR supporter Professor Lord Robert Winston, at a special lecture, admitted, “I am not entirely convinced that embryonic stem cells will, in my lifetime, and possibly anyone's lifetime for that matter, be holding quite the promise that we desperately hope they will.” Columnist and ESCR promoter Cynthia Tucker freely admits that “some of those cures could be decades away.” South Korean ESCR expert Curie Ahn is quoted as saying that cures might take “three to five decades.” Smart money is on the probability that successful ESC therapies will be nowhere near ready for literally decades, if at all—while successful ASC therapies are already in use. For example, people in the advanced stages of Parkinson's are being told that there is no cure, when ASCR has already lead to a reduction of symptoms, according to two articles in the journal Nature Medicine . Victims of diseases like Parkinson's and juvenile diabetes shouldn't be forced to wait for ESCR to play catch-up.
MYTH: A majority of Americans support taxpayer funding of ESCR.
FACT: Poll results are frequently used in support of this argument, and yet questions in these polls are often misleading to the point of rendering their results meaningless. The U.S. Newswire , for example, reported in May 2006 that “nearly three-quarters of Americans support embryonic stem cell research,” but this doesn't address whether they support taxpayer funding for it—an important distinction. Additionally, many poll questions about ESCR include a preface that inflates the research's possibilities, falsely claims that ESCR will only involve “leftover” embryos from fertility clinics, or fails to mention that the research destroys human embryos. What's more, some poll questions ask about “stem cell research” instead of “ embryonic stem cell research”—a crucial distinction.
When all is said and done, only 39 percent of voters actually support taxpayer funding of embryo-destructive research , according to an International Communications Research poll from May of this year. Another question in the same poll revealed that 81 percent of Americans oppose using human cloning techniques to create embryos fated to be destroyed for the sake of science.
MYTH: ESCR is a promising avenue of research for Alzheimer's disease.
FACT: ESCR is extremely unlikely to be successful in treating Alzheimer's. Stem cell therapies are envisioned for use when one particular set of cells isn't functioning properly, as in the case of diabetes or Parkinson's disease. But as Dr. T. John Martin, emeritus professor of medicine at the University of Melbourne, points out, “Alzheimer's is a global condition of the brain and its causes are unknown. . . . It is virtually impossible to conceive that any form of cell therapy could be helpful with Alzheimer's disease.”
On the other hand, ESCR could be useful in terms of discovering how Alzheimer's develops— if you're willing to create ESC lines, change their genes so that the lines develop Alzheimer's, turn them into brain cells, and watch them deteriorate, like a modern-day Tuskegee experiment. Alternatively, you could develop a library of stem cell lines—perhaps a thousand or more—and turn all the lines into brain cells, and then observe them to see which ones actually develop Alzheimer's, thus isolating the genetic component behind the disease. You could also add chemicals to various petri dishes to try to induce Alzheimer's in the healthy lines.
Of course, you would have to kill thousands of human embryos to develop that library, but that's no obstacle to researchers like Larry Goldstein, the chairman of the International Society for Stem Cell Research's Government Affairs Committee, who proposed these two research methodologies to Congress on June 8, 2005. Another suggested method is to create mouse–human combinations, called “chimeras,” by injecting about 100,000 human ESCs into the brains of mice to study how human brain cells will respond to various procedures. But none of these ideas implies a “cure” for Alzheimer's. So why, if no cure is forthcoming, is Alzheimer's routinely mentioned as a disease likely to be cured by ESCR? National Institutes of Health stem cell expert Ronald McKay puts it bluntly: “People need a fairy tale.”
MYTH: ESCR is pure science.
FACT: While scientists are indeed fascinated by the potential of ESCR, there are also huge financial possibilities at stake . Research advocate and biotech writer James P. Kelly of the Seoul Times explained one of the reasons why he no longer supports ESCR: “I overlooked the fact that the scientists and industries urging us to travel the longest, most problem-filled paths to treatments and cures depend on the continued existence of disability and disease for their funding, profits, careers, and existence.” A Web site sponsored by the Human Genome Project points out that, since ESCR involves the creation of cell lines, those lines “are technically patentable. . . . Patents could discourage product development because of high royalty costs owed to all patent owners of that sequence; these are costs that will likely be passed on to the consumer.” On the other hand, ASCR involves techniques that can be repeated on different patients. Techniques are non-patentable—you can only patent a product or a design—so there is no potential for price-gouging with ASCR.
If ASCR and ESCR both result in treatments and cures, but only ESCR results in patents and profits, which would big business likely support? This is an example of the health-care industry's obsession with profits over patients—a theme that will resonate with many Democrats.
________
Eric Pavlat is a board member of Democrats for Life of Maryland, Inc.