Stem Cell Breakthrough?

[Ragamuffin]

[quote]NEW YORK - In a big step toward a long-sought goal, three teams of scientists say they’ve produced the equivalent of embryonic stem cells, at least in mice, without taking the controversial step of destroying embryos.

Their procedure makes ordinary skin cells behave like stem cells. If the same can be done with human cells — a big if — the procedure could lead to breakthrough medical treatments without the contentious ethical and political debates surrounding the use of embryos.

[url="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19067616/"]http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19067616/[/url][/quote]
If this works, the scientific community that's been slobbering all over themselves to harvest embryos for this purpose (while castigating Christians as heartless dogmatics who want people to stay in wheelchairs and die from Parkinson's), owe us and President Bush a big fat apology. Without someone putting on the brakes and forcing them to explore other options more fully, this may never have been discovered.

Here's hoping and praying that it works for humans.

[Sojourner]

There will be no apology.

If they hadn't used embryos, they'll say, we never would have found out how great embryonic stem cells are.


Nevertheless, this is good news.

[prose]

Not to mention that people will STILL think embryos are better or easier or cheaper. It will be a never-ending struggle I think.

[dairygirl4u2c]

Even if Christians have actually caused progress, they still theretically stood against stem cells from embryos.
Everyone likes to point to this and things like maybe adult cells are just as good instead of accepting that they are willing to impede progress at least theoretically.
That's just the way it is, you should gladly accept it instead of trying to avoid it.

[Knight of the Holy Rosary]

You call the extermination of human life for a 'greater cause' progress?

I call it Nazism.

[dairygirl4u2c]

I didn't mean to call it progress. I'm not sure what I think of the issue. I only meant that in a hypthetical sense.

Now everyone is going to focus on me saying "progress" instead of the point of my post.

[Ragamuffin]

I accept that I've impeded progress in stem cell research where the ends did not justify means.

But I also recognize, whether the left-wing elites ever admit it or not, that the opposition to embryonic stem cell research forced them to look harder at other means than they otherwise would have. And the possible result is that there is a way to achieve the same end without doing monstrous things to do it.

[LouisvilleFan]

Regardless of how you make "embyronic equivalent" stem cells, you still have to deal with the fact that embryonic cells are far inferior to adult cells for creating effective treatment. Even the Chinese prefer adult stem cells because embryonic cells have unpredictable and disappointing results.

If anything, rather than impeding medical progress, we are promoting it.

Edited June 7, 2007 by LouisvilleFan

[Archaeology cat]

[quote name='LouisvilleFan' post='1290142' date='Jun 7 2007, 01:27 PM']Regardless of how you make "embyronic equivalent" stem cells, you still have to deal with the fact that embryonic cells are far inferior to adult cells for creating effective treatment. Even the Chinese prefer adult stem cells because embryonic cells have unpredictable and disappointing results.

If anything, rather than impeding medical progress, we are promoting it.[/quote]

Yeah, I've heard that embryonic stem cells actually aren't as good to use as other sources. I know I've heard about amniotic stem cells being used, and perhaps they could get stem cells from the placenta after birth, but I don't know. Maybe I should read up some more on this. . .

[GodChaser]

You have to really understand the science.

Here's a fact that is ignored in the media.

There is more fetal stem cells in cord blood than in a fetus!

So all you need to do is use the cord blood, which you can take after the baby is born, and use it for research. This, of course, offends some religious groups. My question would be, who cares. When I get married, and I have a wife, we will gratefully give that cord blood after each pregnancy.

All you need to do is have cord blood donations, and we would have huge amounts of fetal stem cells to do research and make cures from.

[Archaeology cat]

[quote name='GodChaser' post='1290470' date='Jun 7 2007, 10:19 PM']You have to really understand the science.

Here's a fact that is ignored in the media.

There is more fetal stem cells in cord blood than in a fetus!

So all you need to do is use the cord blood, which you can take after the baby is born, and use it for research. This, of course, offends some religious groups. My question would be, who cares. When I get married, and I have a wife, we will gratefully give that cord blood after each pregnancy.

All you need to do is have cord blood donations, and we would have huge amounts of fetal stem cells to do research and make cures from.[/quote]

Yeah, that's what I thought I'd read. I hadn't heard much about it until I got pregnant.

Here are a couple of links I found: [url="http://www.cord-blood.co.uk/"]Cord Blood[/url]
[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cord_blood"]Wiki[/url]

[LouisvilleFan]

[quote name='GodChaser' post='1290470' date='Jun 7 2007, 06:19 PM']So all you need to do is use the cord blood, which you can take after the baby is born, and use it for research. This, of course, offends some religious groups. My question would be, who cares. When I get married, and I have a wife, we will gratefully give that cord blood after each pregnancy.[/quote]

Do you know what religious groups would not be cool with using cord blood?

[GodChaser]

[quote name='LouisvilleFan' post='1290784' date='Jun 8 2007, 07:41 AM']Do you know what religious groups would not be cool with using cord blood?[/quote]
I think it is JH and Hindus who are against this. But they don't have the truth, so who cares.

I don't think Christians would be too upset to gratefully allow cord blood to be used. What are we going to use it for anyways?

You get about 15-20 times more Fetal Stem cells in cord blood from a successful birth than an aborted fetus.

Makes you wonder why they use 'Fetal Stem Cells' as a big push for Abortion?

[prose]

I think there is a problem with the fact that we all are constantly saying we are against stem cell research. We aren't. We are opposed to SCR involving fetuses. All other SCR is okay. Why don't more Christians support SCR that are not based on taking lives?

I know I support SCR.

[LouisvilleFan]

[quote name='GodChaser' post='1291163' date='Jun 8 2007, 10:08 PM']I think it is JH and Hindus who are against this. But they don't have the truth, so who cares.

I don't think Christians would be too upset to gratefully allow cord blood to be used. What are we going to use it for anyways?[/quote]

Who are the JH?

I think we should care about others' beliefs, even though we disagree. How can we expect them to respect our beliefs if we aren't willing to give respect in kind?

[GodChaser]

[quote name='LouisvilleFan' post='1291623' date='Jun 9 2007, 10:58 PM']Who are the JH?

I think we should care about others' beliefs, even though we disagree. How can we expect them to respect our beliefs if we aren't willing to give respect in kind?[/quote]
Jehovah Witnesses.

I've seen the term so much when someone is describing them, I figured it was a common term. Sorry.

And I wouldn't be disrespectful of their beliefs, I am just stating a fact.

Anything that rejects the son, rejects the father, and therefore it is satanic.

[jeffpugh]

My shorthand for Jehovah's Witnesses is JW... I think that is most common here (not to be confused with j/w = just wondering).

[GodChaser]

[quote name='Sacred Music Man' post='1291815' date='Jun 10 2007, 10:42 AM']My shorthand for Jehovah's Witnesses is JW... I think that is most common here (not to be confused with j/w = just wondering).[/quote]
Opps. . .

[jeffpugh]

No probalo. You learn something new every day

[LouisvilleFan]

[quote name='GodChaser' post='1291814' date='Jun 10 2007, 12:39 PM']And I wouldn't be disrespectful of their beliefs, I am just stating a fact.

Anything that rejects the son, rejects the father, and therefore it is satanic.[/quote]

Things aren't quite that black-and-white. Most followers of other religions either haven't had the opportunity to reject the Gospel, or they've been shown an effed up version of the Gospel that they rightly rejected. As the Catechism tells us, all faiths and even atheism/agnosticism, represent a search for truth. Somewhere between the post-modern "anything goes" attitude and the "everybody is with God or with Satan" attitude is a healthy balance that respects all beliefs while calling non-Catholics into the fullness of Love and Truth that we know.