The quick approaching of the mid term elections bring all the particular interest champions out into the limelight. Advocates for particular interests ranging from the environment to animal rights all view the political approach as a means to advance their causes. Chief among these media darlings dedicated to a social agenda is Michael J. Fox.
Mr. Fox has enabled scientists to carry out some amazing study in regards to Parkinson's illness (PD). The Michael J. Fox Foundation has awarded far more the seventy million dollars in scientific grants involving far more than two hundred study projects in eighteen countries.
Amongst the wide array of projects supported by the Fox Foundation is a gene therapy that injects a virus with a gene produced by the team of Dr. Raymond Bartus into the brain. The theory behind this study is that seeding the malfunctioning region of the brain will trigger it to begin creating Dopamine. Dopamine is a hormone like neurotransmitter.
The Cleveland Clinics: Glossary of Parkinson's illness Terms defines Dopamine as
A chemical produced by the brain it assists in the effective transmission of messages from a single nerve cell to the subsequent. Men and women with Parkinson's have decreased amounts of the chemical in the basal ganglia and substantia nigra, two structures located deep in the brain. Dopamine coordinates the actions of movement, balance, and walking.
A further study at the University of Florida supported by the Fox Foundation is led by Dr. Christine Sapienza. This group of scientist are working on curing a symptom of PD, that of difficulty swallowing. This could possibly seem trivial at 1st blush until you study that the top trigger of death in a PWP (Person with Parkinson's) is aspiration pneumonia. Water leaking into the airway causing infection, pneumonia and death.
In Beijing China compounds located in green tea are getting study in the occasion that they could possibly slow the progression of PD. Once again supported financially by the Fox Foundation.
Parkinson's illness is a highly hugely misunderstood illness. There are an estimated a single and a half million individuals in the United States suffering from PD. It is a degenerative neurological disorder that impacts the Dopamine creating region of the brain. This loss of Dopamine can trigger at rest tremors, a slowness of movement, rigidity of trunk and limbs and impaired balance. These are only the main symptoms of PD with dozens of secondary symptoms. PD is a quietly devastating illness.Mr. Fox has joined the political approach to promote Stem Cell study, specifically Embryonic Stem Cell Analysis (ESCR). Mr. Fox and our media have bought into the claims of particular members of the scientific community that embryonic stem cells are the exceptional panacea, the magic bullet, and a remedy all solution. Fact is not a single therapy has been created making use of Embryonic Stem Cells.
Diana Kapp in The $3 Billion Cell Job states [1] "Not a single embryonic stem cell has ever been tested in a human getting, for any illness."
Read what she says thoroughly, not only are their no therapies making use of ESCR, but no study project has progressed to the stage of testing on humans. This following twenty 5 years of study and testing on embryonic stem cells obtained from mice.
Stuart Newman, Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy, New York Medical College wrote [two] "there had been essentially no progress in curing or even palliating disabling circumstances for which mouse 'models' existed, such as diabetes, spinal cord injury, Parkinson's and so forth."
No progress towards a remedy for diabetes, spinal cord injury or PD, not even to relieving the symptoms of these tragic disabling circumstances. Neither a single remedy nor relief of the any of the symptoms linked with these illnesses.
A top advocate of ESCR when asked how lengthy it will take for embryonic stem cell based therapies to be prepared, offers the following answer [3] "My answer is 5 years,' he stated. 'It's the exact same thing as saying I have no concept.'"
That is about as truthful an answer as you are likely to get in the debate more than ESCR. As truthful as it is telling, no a single genuinely can say definitively that ESCR will develop a remedy in the subsequent a variety of decades, or even if a single can be produced.
Quoting Mr. Fox in an interview with Katie Couric on April 16 of 2006 "not all politicians are on the exact same page as scientists. Parkinson's professionals think in stem cell study as a promising prospect for a remedy. But the supply of those cells - human embryos -- touches a sensitive nerve in the nation's capitol.
Either Mr. Fox is not getting completely truthful or he does not fully comprehend the claims he makes in the above statement. He implies that all scientists are in agreement with his belief that ESCR is the subsequent exceptional remedy all. That politicians, specifically those in Washington are to be blamed for its lack of progress.
A case against this point of view can be made from a letter written in the course of the 2004 Presidential election by fifty-seven noted study scientists and physicians. The signatories coming from such renowned study facilities as the Mayo Clinic, Georgetown Medical School, Harvard Medical School, and the National Cancer Institute. In this letter written to the Kerry - Edwards campaign regarding their statements on ESCR these exact same scientists accuse the campaign of getting irresponsible, risky and misleading.
Third, the statements you have made regarding the purported medical applications of embryonic stem cells reach far beyond any credible evidence, ignoring the restricted state of our knowledge about embryonic stem cells and the advances in other areas of study that could possibly render use of these cells unnecessary for a number of applications. To make such exaggerated claims, at this stage of our knowledge, is not only scientifically irresponsible - it is deceptive and cruel to millions of patients and their households who hope desperately for cures and have come to rely on the scientific community for correct specifics. (Ad-hoc group of Scientists Letter to the Kerry - Edwards Campaign October 27th 2004)
Immediately after chastising the political campaign of Kerry-Edwards the letter continues on to describe how study and therapy of non-controversial adult stem cells have currently treated and cured thousands of dozens of illnesses.
Non-embryonic stem cells have been discovered in a number of unexpected tissues - in blood, nerve, fat, skin, muscle, umbilical cord blood, placenta, even dental pulp - and dozens of research indicate that they are far far more versatile than once believed. Use of these cells poses no significant ethical problem, and could possibly avoid all complications of tissue rejection if stem cells can be obtained from a patient for use in that exact same patient. Clinical use of non-embryonic stem cells has grown greatly in current years. In contrast to embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells are in established or experimental use to treat human patients with a variety of dozen circumstances, according to the National Institutes of Well being and the National Marrow Donor Plan (Cong. Record, September 9, 2004, pages H6956-7). They have been or are getting assessed in human trials for therapy of spinal cord injury, Parkinson's illness, stroke, cardiac harm, several sclerosis, and so on.
Adult Stem Cells are plentiful, painless to acquire and come with out the moral, ethical and medical baggage of Embryonic Stem Cells. They have and are getting used to treat "a variety of dozen circumstances", at the moment.
Once again we see that the medically far more advanced adult stem cells are a superior solution to those taken at an embryonic state. This is a scientific fact. The later in the gestation period a cell has achieved the far more stable it becomes. Cells taken at the earliest or blastocyst stage (five to 6 days) are hugely volatile, hard to function with and likely to trigger tumors. Later in the development cycle the cell stabilizes and becomes the sort of cell it was created to be.
Mr. Fox is also wrong in his perception of what pro life is and what is not. Once again a quote from the Katie Couric interview, Mr. Fox in response to a question about the "millions of Americans who get the idea of destroying embryos immoral" :
I would say that, from my opinion, it really is an spectacular pro-life thing to do to take those cells and to endeavor to increase the lives of millions and billions of individuals that are alive now and will be alive in the future by coming up with cures--and treatments for illnesses.
His idea of pro life and mine vary greatly. The standard premise to his answer is that of the pro abortion movement. The concept that lives at various stages of development are of unequal worth and that some stages are of little to no worth. A further way of saying the exact same thing would be that the unborn lack some thing that the new born has acquired. This is the slippery slope we get ourselves on right now, and have been treading ever downward considering that Roe v. Wade.
All life, the stage of development not withstanding is useful in the eyes of our Creator. The Bible teaches that guys and females had been created in the image of God
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27 (NIV)
Combined with the instruction of the 5th commandment delivered to Moses in Exodus 20:13 "You shall not murder. (NIV)
This makes it crucial that we are to guard life, from its highly beginning to its natural end. Life is sacred gift. This truth is unrelated to circumstance or circumstance. Destroying a human embryo is destroying a living human getting. Any middle school biology student know that life beings when the cell divides. ESCR destroys a human getting. Michael J. Fox knows this. The scientist proponents of ESCR know this. They have their own factors for pushing their agenda.
As a fellow PD patient myself, my outlook on life and its sanctity are highly various from that of Mr. Fox. I have learned to look for the blessing in all items, even PD. It is the difference in between a post contemporary worldview and a Christian worldview. When a single learns that God is soverign and will allow nothing that can not be used to His glory to take place, it offers life a new which means.
Stem Cell Analysis can be useful to human sort when done adequately. It can be tremendously destructive when done outside the bounds of propriety. We must put aside our private agendas and educate a single one other to the details. Stem Cell Analysis on Adult stem cells gives exceptional promise of even far more therapies and treatments in the near future.
In conclusion I want to address Mr. Fox directly by saying, Michael you have done exceptional items with your foundation, all in your own strength. Yet you will under no circumstances get correct happiness or peace until you come to accept Jesus Christ as the Lord of your life. It staggers my imagination what you could achieve had been you only acting in His will and not your own. As the Apostle Paul writing from a Roman prison cell explains it
I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and require. I can do all items by way of him who strengthens me. Philippians four:12-13 (ESV)
I will pray that you God offers you Michael the wisdom to discern the truth regarding the destruction of embryos and the sanctity of human life. That he will soften your heart and that you will pick to let Him in. That you will continue to do His function, His way. All in the name of Jesus, Amen
[1] Diana Kapp, "The $3 Billion Cell Job," San Francisco, January, 2005[two] Stuart Newman, Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy, New York Medical College, "Averting the Clone Age: Prospects and Perils of Human Developmental Manipulation," J. Contemporary Well being Law and Policy,Vol.19:2003, pp.446-447[3] Jonathan Bor, "Stem Cells: A Long Road Ahead," The Baltimore Sun, 3/8/04
Clyde Annach is the operator of the Internet Log Aha! Clyde's been thinking again!
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