October 14, 2004
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THURSDAY WHATEVER
Hot Button Issue – Stem Cell Research
I’m pretty set on where I stand on most hot button issues, but this one I’m just not well enough informed about, though seeing highly intelligent, deeply courageous advocates (like the late Christopher Reeve, RIP) support it, I’m swayed already. Nevertheless, I thought I’d read an article about it to get the nuts and bolts. So now as I understand it:
1. Bush has strongly limited federal funding for stem cell research; Kerry has said he would open up federal funding to support it.
2. Opponents call it unethical on the grounds of it being the destruction of a human embryo in the process of collecting new stem cells.
3. According to the NIH, stem cells are a repair system for the body. Most research is focused on embyronic stem cells.
4. Embryonic stem cells are developed from eggs fertilized in in vitro fertization and are donated with consent of doctors and would otherwise be discarded. They can grow into any kind of cell in the human body.
5. Adult stem cells are also being researched and both embryonic and adult stem cells could be used to replace diseased or dysfunctional cells.
6. Most U.S. physicians agree that stem cells will bring a dramatic change to medicine and their use will become routine one day. They believe this type of therapy may one day be used to cure cancer, Lou Gehrig’s disease, parkinson’s, spinal cord injuries, macular degeneration, and Alzheimer’s.
Well, that just leaves me with a few questions that weren’t answered in this article. Why not concentrate on adult stem cell research (if the pro-life people are going to go ballistic over embryos)? What about the private sector? Anything keeping them from going forward? If they already are, how far are they getting? Anybody know?
Deep Thought: I hope some animal never bores a hole in my head and lays its eggs in my brain, because later you might think you’re having a good idea but it’s just eggs hatching.
Today I am grateful for: Having more choices than many
Guess the Movie: “I need to believe, that something extraordinary is possible. ” Answer: A Beautiful Mind, 2001
Polls Today: Kerry 228/Bush 284. EVP: “Modern politics is (unfortunately) more about expectations than about reality. Consequently, Gallup ran a poll BEFORE the third debate asking who was going to win? The results: 54% expected Kerry to win, 36% expected Bush to win, 10% expected a tie.
Now for the actual results. After the debate, a Gallup poll showed Kerry to be the winner 52% to 39%, not far from expectations. A CBS poll of uncommitted voters after the debate showed that 39% thought Kerry had won and 25% thought Bush had won. An ABC News poll showed Kerry barely won, 42% to 41%. However, the ABC poll had 38% Republicans and 30% Democrats, so breaking even in a group skewed towards the GOP has to be considered a Kerry win. ARG didn’t run a large-scale poll this time. Still, the clear conclusions: Kerry won the first and third debates; the second one was a tie. Cheney did better than his boss and won the VP debate.”
End of Day: 9:40 pm
+ = One of the last incredibly perfect fall days.
- = Debates done, Kerry still not ahead in overall polls.
Comments (8)
I don’t know very much about stem cells, but I surmise that brand new stem cells from a discarded blastocyst (64-128 cells around a hollow core, and which can be grown in a petri dish), what the fertilized egg is between leaving the oviduct (where it was a morula) and impanting in the uterine wall (where is becomes an embryo) simply contain more of the energy of creation in them than an adult’s stem cells, and are easier to obtain. What is interesting is that some stem cells of babies that women have borne into the world remain always within the mother and can internally repair her body – a very interesting, almost sci-fi like article on it in the NYTimes a few months ago, where it was found that a mother’s liver had been regrown with cells of the genetic structure of her child (ie having half of the father’s chromosomes and half of hers) naturally. It is a fascinating field of study and is already revolutionizing medicine, despite Bush.
Adults don’t have stem cells, if I remember my physiology correctly. It is only found in developing embryos (and maybe cord blood?, on that I am not sure).
These debates leave me wanting more information. All I hear is, “if elected, I will,….” I want to know how.
The movie has me stumped.
From what I understand (and this is very limited) there are possibilities with embryonic stem cells not available with adult ones (they seem to be more “flexible” for lack of a better word). And I simply don’t buy the “anti-abortion” argument here, unless the “anti-choice” lobby really believes that every one of those frozen embryos must be implanted and allowed to develop.
stem cell research must be funded…
I didn’t realize Bush had pulled ahead – when did that happen? I thought Kerry kicked butt in the debate too….
*off topic*
i just can’t believe he gave up. he was never the kind to do that- and so i wait impatiently for the results of the autopsy, as if the truth will make a difference!
I don’t truly understand the stem-cell situation, either. What frozen embryos are they talking about? That will just be “discarded”? I just…don’t know. On the one hand, it seems to open up some unbelievable research areas, but I am uncomfortable about the whole embryo thing. If the cells are available from other sources, why would we not want to develop those first, even if they were harder to work with. Perhaps if we worked with them enough, a way would be found to make it easier to work with them. Or maybe these ideas are just the eggs hatching AAAIIIEEEE!
You might be interested to read this article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34167-2004Oct14.html