Stem Cells: Benefit to humanity
Posted on: Wednesday, 17 March 2004, 06:00 CST
TWO SCIENTISTS and an ethics professor held a polite debate at the University of Charleston on a hot topic: whether stem cells from fertilized human eggs should be used in medical attempts to cure various dreaded diseases.
Stem cells are primitive units that haven't yet become bone, skin, hair, muscle, nerve or other tissue. These cells have an amazing ability to turn into whatever tissue they're placed among. Thus, researchers hope to use them to grow new brain tissue for Alzheimer's patients, new heart muscle for cardiac victims, new pancreas tissue for diabetics, and the like.
Some religious groups oppose this research. They contend that a soul is created when a human egg is fertilized - therefore removing the stem cells kills a microscopic person. President Bush generally supports this view, and has banned use of federal funds for research with stem cells from new embryos, except for a few cell cultures that existed before his prohibition.
However, Harvard, Stanford and other major universities are proceeding to use private money for the work. New Jersey's governor promised $6.5 million of state funds to Rutgers and another university for this purpose. And California voters may decide in November whether to pour $3 billion of state money into it. In effect, they're making an end-run around Bush's federal ban.
We hope the private and state-level efforts lead to dramatic medical breakthroughs, producing new cures for suffering people. If that happens, most of humanity will see that scientists were correct to pursue their crusade.
The worst danger is that conservatives in Congress might yield to "religious right" pressure and try to ban private and state research, too. Already, they're trying to outlaw use of stem cells taken from specially cloned embryos tailor-made for each patient.
It will be tragic if Congress impedes a potential health advance. Other nations around the world would continue the work, leaving America behind in this highly promising field. We hope West Virginia's delegation in Washington unites in support of medical science.
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Posted by selynna on 01/29/2009, 16:14 interesting |
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