soficrow,
I did read your source item "Stem Cell Clone Ban Coming? "
It seems to me that the ban covers everything because there is no separation between therapeutic cloning and reproductive human cloning. Also from
what I read in your source our Legislators are not willing to separate the two forms either. So, if you want therapeutic cloning you must have
reproductive human cloning. (cloned humans) I don't
think the majority of people want to see things go that far down the slippery slope
I am sure you will correct me if I have misrepresented your source.
The term "therapeutic cloning" or somatic cell nuclear transfer would produce a human, but would not lead to birth. The researchers would take the
cells from a "cloned baby" several days old. This would of course kill the baby. Excuse me, my bad, we do not use the term baby but embryo.
In my estimation it is right to ban these procedures.
On another note, adult stem cell therapy and umbilical cord blood.
This procedure uses the stem cells from the patient's own body. These cells are the exact match and will not be rejected by the body as foreign
tissue. Another plus of using the bodies own cells is that there are fewer regulatory barriers. They are not placing a foreign substance into the
patients body.
Most of us are familiar with "bone marrow transplants." Stem cells from the bone marrow. Using the adult stem cell therapy there has been help
for people with Parkinson's disease, spinal cord injury, sickle-cell anemia, heart damage, and corneal damage.
Most men are not bothered by the following condition, but just ask a woman how uncomfortable it can be. And here it has been helped by adult stem
cell therapy.
Urinary Incontinence in Women
This condition becomes more likely as a woman ages. I tiny tinkle when laughing, or when "you gotta to go, you gotta go now". This loss of
control is caused by shrinking muscles in the bladder, sphincter, and urethra wall.
There are many drugs, surgeries, incontinence pads and surgical treatments, but they are not permanent and sometimes make it difficult to urinate.
So, yes they did. A study of 20 women. Ages 36-84. A cube of muscle tissue was removed from the bicep, 4 millimeters to a side. Stem cells from
this tissue were extracted and grown in a culture for 6 weeks.
Link to article
NewScientist.com
Stem cells rebuild bladder control
16:30 29 November 2004
NewScientist.com news service
Anna Gosline
Frauscher's team injected the myoblasts into the urethra wall and bladder sphincter of each woman, using real-time ultrasound to make sure the cells
made contact with their target. This contact is crucial as myoblasts need to be "told" in which direction they should grow by existing muscle
fibres. The muscle-tissue extraction and stem-cell injection procedures each took about 15 minutes under local anaesthetic.
Within 24 hours, 90% of the women had no urinary leakage. After two weeks, both doctor and patient could a see a marked increase in muscle tissue and
contraction power under the ultrasound.
Now, more than a later year, 18 of the 20 women have maintained full control over their bladders, says Frauscher, who presented the results at the
Radiological Society of North America meeting in Chicago on Monday. The team is currently treating eight to 10 women per week and long waiting lists
are building up.
I believe there are many exciting ways to go with the adult stem cell therapy and umbilical cord blood. We should stop whining about the ban against
cloning human embryos and start doing the research with what we have.
In 2003 Congress approved funds to help create a nationwide umbilical cord blood stem cell bank. The umbilical cord is generally discarded after a
live birth. So why not use them for this research that is so needed?
soficrow,
Do you have something against adult stem cell therapy? You didn't mention the study where the heart patient was helped so much. Do you not think
this is a good thing?
