Funding should be steered toward science that we know works
On March 9, 2009, President Obama lifted a ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. It was a move that many religious and pro-life groups were opposed to. I believe that the government should send more funding to research centers that are attempting to fix problems that come with using adult stem cells rather than focusing on facilities that are researching embryonic stem cells. Adult stem cells are an uncontroversial alternative to embryonic stem cells. There is new research that shows that adult stem cells can be manipulated to create pluripotent stem cells, which can be formed into all types of human cells, not a limited number as scientists previously thought. Also, adult stem cells have already been used to successfully treat certain diseases, such as leukemia, while embryonic stem cells have never been used on humans before. If more funding was sent to adult stem cell research instead of embryonic stem cell research, we can be certain that more cures would be created, and the ethical questions that were raised can be avoided.
Laura Steenberge
Ballwin
Hmm, scientists should stop looking for new/better solutions to our problems but only concentrate on the stuff that “works” and they already know. Interesting.
The only people who claim this is an ethical issue are those opposed to it. The majority of Americans who support stem cell research…including unused embryos that are wasting away in freezers never to be used or even thrown away…this is NOT an ethical issue. The millions of people suffering from Alzheimers or diabetes take precedence over the smear in a petri dish. GET OVER IT.
If it is such an ethical diemma, when the cure derived from embryonic stem cells comes for a disease your son or daughter is sufferring from, I urge and implore you do say NO because of your ethics. let’s see where the moral dilemma lies in that situation.
” . . leukemia . ”
Old news Laura, here’s the latest
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Leukemia Stem Cells Have More In Common With Embryonic Stem Cells Than Adult Stem Cells
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090205133742.htm
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Sorry to burst your bubble
Laura -”It was a move that many religious and pro-life groups were opposed to.”
This is no reason to hold back research. Scientific/technological developements will always pose ethical questions to society and it is wise that we address them from a wide range of perspectives. Stem cell research seems to be objectionable to only a narrow band of single issue, religious conservatives. Society by and large sees no clear threat from embryonic stem cell research. This is not to say we give a free pass on all forms of genetic manipulation (ie- human cloning, designer children, etc) but ESC work should continue.
Maybe they shouldn’t be funding science; maybe they won’t for much longer - we’re flat broke, if we didn’t notice.
Laura Steenberge will be happy to know that I will be going to Theodorick of Cheterfield’s barber shop later this month for my quarterly blood letting.
Move on Laura! Stem Cell Research needs to be funded so that research can continue. One cannot say at this point that results have not yet been determined whether stem cell research can benefit or cure diseases that effect many. We must explore the possibilities. The rest of the world is doing it. Must we lag behind every other industrialized nation so a few neocons will not be offended.
Remember Amendment 2 Laura! Passed in Missouri in 2006. You and your kind cannot accept this and Richard Lemke will spend the next few years attempting to undo what the voters wanted.
I think it is laughable that so-called scientists try to say ideology should be taken out of science.
These are the same guys telling us they have a right to our money to conduct their research. Is there anything more ideological you can think of? If these guys have something of value, they should feel free to sell it to me and I can make the decision to buy it or not, otherwise they should take their hand out of my pocket before trying to tell me they want ideology out of science.
Finally, let me share my experience working with stem cells — mice stem cells — as I did in a previous post:
As a requirement of my medical residency program I spent a year doing research with embryonic mouse cells. Once I forgot about an experiment for a couple weeks and I could see developing mice. Of course outside a mouse uterus they would never have become full grown mice, but they were clearly mice. On another occasion I watched while one of the other lab workers harvested embryonic mouse cells from an embryo taken from a pregnant mouse. It was very brutal and there was no question about the outcome of that particular mouse.
I had previously done work in which live mice were sacrificed and as a scientist I saw no difference between the adult mice, mice ebryos, fetuses, or stem cells with which I worked. From a scientific standpoint I don’t think anyone can question what life is. Sure you can make up whatever definitions you want but from a true biologic standpoint there surely is no difference.
Even the guy who pioneered embryonic stem cell research says if you don’t feel there is an ethical dilemma with respect to human stem cell research, you haven’t thought about it enough.
Muad’Dib
A side note.
We’re in this economic mess because of single issue voters like Laura.
Every major medical research center, most public and private universities, and thousnads of professors and scientists across the country advocate the need for embryonic stem cell research and the hope it brings to millions of Americans.
But what do they know…
Let’s take the word of someone who believes Jonah was swallowed by a whale.
John Deal,
If you forgot about a research experiment for a couple of weeks, you could not be considered to be a dedicated, competent research scientist.