Obama to Remove Key Restrictions on Embryonic Stem Cell Research
The Bush Administration restrictions set early in this century limited the research to a set of embryonic stem cells created before August 2001. There were only 22 viable cell lines available for distribution. All of these cells had been created using mouse cells. This means that none of these cells could be used in humans to avoid spreading mouse viruses to humans; so essentially these cells were unlikely to ever be used for medical purposes. These were the only cells available for use in federally funded experiments. By overturning these restrictions Obama is fulfilling one of his campaign promises. He is creating hope for the future of patients throughout the nation; and giving American scientists the resources to catch up with the rest of the world.
Stem cell therapies have been around since the late Seventies. Skin-grafting and bone marrow transplantation are both examples of stem cell therapies currently in use. Obama's reversal of the policy will allow scientists to use stem cells free of animal molecules and chromosomal abnormalities that have made the previous lines virtually unusable.
Many scientists will now be able to research the new lines that carry the genetic signatures of the diseases they study. None of the Bush lines had that feature.
Embryonic stem cells can be manipulated in a variety of ways. Scientists believe they will be able to train these cells into becoming heart or pancreatic cells for patients suffering from heart or pancreatic conditions. They also believe these cells can become replacement brain cells for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's sufferers.
Many conservatives are upset by this. They object to the use of these cell lines, feeling that the destruction of human embryos ends a human life.
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said, "Advancements in science and research have moved faster than the debates among politicians in Washington, D.C., and breakthroughs announced in recent years confirm the full potential of stem cell research can be realized without the destruction of living human embryos."
Sources:
http://cnx.org/content/m14828/latest/
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-stem-cells-2009mar07,0,4706070.story
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/06/obama.stem.cell/index.html
Published by Cami Farmer Tozer
Cami has spent nearly l0 years writing launch documents as a United States Air Force contractor working closely with the Air Force, NASA, Boeing, ULA, etc. Cami recently created and designed the Probe Resour... View profile
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2 Comments
Post a CommentHow many other needed programs will now lose funding. The government should stay out of this entirely, and no American should have to "pay" taxes toward something so controversial, and unethical in many of those Americans that are religiously opposed to this "science."
Sad day for America, actually. This is actually more like the song "In the Year 2525" as we move closer and closer to fascism and communism. Soon, instead of making donations to the blood bank people will be making donations of their sperm and eggs for profit "in the interest of science." And this research will not simply be restricted to curing existing diseases, since cord cells have been utilized now and show much promise in this area. It is a backdoor method of initiating "selectivity" for embryonic research also for fertility clinics. How far are we now from cloning? As soon as this is a viable "industry" and their lobbyists start lining up for more funding for additional "reasearch" in order to screen prenatally in the Nazi tradition.