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From: ThePro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To: Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject: StemCell Research: Saving Life WithoutDestroying It
Source: CitizenMagainze; December Issue
Advocates of human embryo destruction say they must destroylife to save it.
But one 16-year-old cancer survivor says it's not true.
By Candi Cushman
[Pro-Life Infonet Note: Candi Cushman is an associate editorwith Citizen
magazine.]
He was only 11 years old when the diagnosis came: anadvanced case of myloid
leukemia. It was the worst kind of leukemia, doctors said --the form of bone
marrow cancer most resistant to chemotherapy. For the nextthree years,
Nathan Salley, a slender, bright-eyed boy with a shock ofsandy blonde hair,
endured round after round of painful spinal taps, radiationand chemotherapy
that seemingly had no effect -- except to leave Nathanexhausted and
nauseated. No longer able to attend his Christian school inArvada, Colo., he
began taking home courses.
"Friends were supportive, but the cancer treatment wasawful," recalled
Nathan. "I lost my hair and appetite, but I tried hardto do as many things
as I could. . . . Soccer teammates put my number on theirjerseys for the
remainder of the season." Then, in July 1999, hopearrived in an unexpected
place -- an umbilical cord from Spain. Donated by a motherwho gave birth to
a baby boy, the cord carried a treasure trove of healthystem cells that
exactly matched Nathan's.
At age 14, he became the center of a cutting edge scienceexperiment -- and
of political debate -- as one of the oldest children to everreceive stem
cells from an umbilical cord.
Scientists recently discovered that stem cells, unlike mosthuman cells which
only perform certain functions, can produce different typesof tissue, thus
giving them the exciting potential to cure disease andrestore damaged organs.
Though President Bush has limited funding to research onembryos already
destroyed by in-vitro fertilization clinics, maverickscientists are pushing
ahead.
But that potential has produced a frenzy of ethicallyquestionable
experiments -- human cloning, the destruction of humanembryos and fetal
tissue research -- that help scientists get at those covetedstem cells.
Though President Bush limited funding to research on embryosalready
destroyed by in-vitro fertilization clinics, maverickscientists are pushing
ahead. On Nov. 26, a private firm called Advanced CellTechnology riveted the
nation by announcing it had cloned a human embryo. Why?Researchers wanted
embryo stem cells. Calling it "therapeuticcloning," the company's president,
Michael West, said he just wanted to "save people'slives who are sick." In
other words, he's making expendable humans to be destroyedfor other lives
deemed more valuable.
The government currently takes a hands off approach towardhuman cloning and
embryo destruction -- it doesn't fund it; but it doesn't banit either.
This October, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Sen. ArlenSpecter, R-Pa.,
proposed amendments to the appropriations bill that wouldfund research on
new embryos created "in excess of clinical need."Conflict broke out in
Congress as pro-life Senator Sam Brownback, R-Kan.,countered with amendments
that banned human cloning and the creation of human embryosfor research.
Worried that friction wouldn't bode well after Sept. 11,senators agreed to
put off the debate until February or March.
Brownback, angered by the human cloning announcement inNovember, sought a
six-month ban on human cloning last week but liberalsthwarted the effort.
They also want more federal funding of embryonic stem cellresearch than
President Bush has said he will allow.
"We must not say to millions of sick or injured humanbeings 'go ahead and
die and stay paralyzed because we believe . . . a clump ofcells is more
important than you are,' " said Rep. Jerrold Nadler,D-NY. What he didn't say
is that scientists already are using stem cells found inadult bodies and in
umbilical cords to create new tissue and treat thousands ofsick individuals.
As one of those individuals, Nathan underwent agroundbreaking procedure in
which his own blood marrow cells were destroyed and replacedwith healthy
stem cells from the donated cord. What makes Nathan's caseunique is that, as
an older child, he needed more stem cells than are in theumbilical cord. So
before transplanting them into Nathan' s body, scientiststreated the cord
cells with growth vitamins, in essence, making healthy cellsmultiply in a
sick person's body.
Amazingly, the cells created a new bone marrow devoid ofdisease, and two
years later Nathan's leukemia is in complete remission. Now16, he is once
again an honor roll student and soccer player at FaithChristian Academy in
Arvada. Nathan testified about his recovery during acongressional hearing on
stem cell research last July. "As a result of thisgroundbreaking procedure,
I am proof that the medical community does not need todestroy life to save
it," he told lawmakers, speaking softly as his parentssat behind him holding
hands and fighting back tears.
Scientific evidence backs his assertion. Once touted as thenew 21st century
cure-all, embryonic stem cell experiments are losing groundto alternative
cell therapies that don't destroy life. Just in the lastthree months, cells
found in adult bodies, in umbilical cords and placenta havebeen used to
treat cancer, grow new eye corneas and repair heart damage.
"Apparently our traditional views need to bereevaluated," admitted Eric
Olson, a molecular biologist at the University of Texas SouthwesternMedical
Center who supports embryonic research. Even the secularpress, which last
year was loudly lauding embryo experimentation, took note.
"Until now, researchers thought that stem cells fromembryos offer the best
hope for rebuilding damaged organs," reported NBCNightly News' Robert
Bazell. "But this latest research shows that theembryos, which are
politically controversial, may not be necessary."
Some of the nondestructive cell procedures generating themost excitement
include:
Heart therapy
With more than 7 million Americans suffering heart attackseach year, heart
disease is the nation's leading killer. So it is of no smallsignificance
that non-embryonic cells show great promise in repairingheart damage.
In Japan, researchers have used individuals' own bone marrowcells to
increase blood flow in previously untreatable coronaryarteries, according to
studies presented at the American Heart Association'smeeting in mid
November. And a Fort Lauderdale-based company calledBioheart, Inc. repaired
heart damage in 10 European patients by taking muscle cellsfrom their thighs
and transplanting them in their hearts.
Called "tissue regeneration," the procedurealready is used to grow new skin,
bone and eye tissue, but this marked the first time it wasused to treat an
organ as complex as the heart. The success created a buzzamong heart
specialists, some deeming it the biggest breakthrough sinceheart
transplants.
"We don't have many good options [for treating heartattacks], said Dr.
Donald D. Glower, a professor of surgery at DukeUniversity's medical center.
"This is one of the more promising avenues. It couldeventually become a
very, very powerful tool."
The Brain
Challenging claims that only embryonic cells can createbrain cells,
researchers at the Thomas Jefferson University inPhiladelphia say they have
converted stem cells from human bone marrow into neurons(brain cells), and a
neuroscientist in California announced that cadaver brainsalso supply
valuable neurons. That means adult stem cells could have thepotential to
treat Parkinson's and other neurological diseases, includingmultiple
sclerosis.
Animal experiments also show promise: At the University ofSouth Florida in
Tampa, scientists injected umbilical cord stem cells intorats that had
suffered strokes. Amazingly, the cells blended withsurrounding brain tissue
and formed healthy neural cells.
Molecular biologist Freda Miller of McGill University inMontreal, Canada,
published a study in September showing that adult stem cellsfound in skin
can develop into brain cells. Furthermore, skin cells areeasier to harvest
than embryonic cells, reported Miller.
"The dogma used to be that if you were a stem cell in[adult] bone marrow,
you could only make blood cells, or if you were a stem cellin skin, you
could only make skin," said Rondal Worton, head ofCanada's Stem Cell
Network. "There's now enough lab work to say the dogmawas wrong."
Ironically, one of the main arguments made by embryonicresearch supporters
is that experiments should continue until scientists knowwhich cells
therapies work best. While arguing for embryo research twoyears ago, the
federally funded National Bioethics Advisory Commissiondeclared that "the
derivation of stem cells from embryos â€|isjustifiable only if no less morally
problematic alternatives are available for advancing theresearch." Now Dr.
David Prentice, co-founder of Do No Harm: The Coalition ofAmericans for
Research Ethics, wants the government to keep its word.
"I have somewhere around 300 published papersdocumenting over the last three
years the success of adult stem cells," Prentice said,who teaches life
science at Indiana State University in Terre Haute."Adult stem cells can
change into other tissue, they are already treating patientsand they are
showing much more success in animals. But there are probablyless than 50
studies on embryo stem cells and even those studies don'tshow what they
want."
Take, for instance, the glowing media reports last springthat embryonic
cells injected in diabetic mice produced insulin. "Butwhat actually happened
was that they made 1/50th the amount of insulin [theyneeded] and the
diabetic mice still died," clarified Prentice.
Not reported in the media was the fact that, one yearbefore, Florida
researchers had successfully used adult pancreatic stemcells in diabetic
mice. Roughly 10 days later, the mice no longer neededinsulin shots, said
Prentice.
After Nathan Salley took his turn speaking at thecongressional hearing,
embryonic research advocates trotted out their biggestguns -- high profile
celebrities like Mary Tyler Moore, who chairs the JuvenileDiabetes
Foundation, and Michael J. Fox, who suffers fromParkinson's. Fox told
lawmakers that "stem cell research offers the chance ofa medical miracle"
and has the potential to "literally save millions oflives."
But a closer look at the evidence sheds doubt on that claim.Consider what
happened when embryo brain cells harvested from fetuses wereinjected into
the brains of Parkinson's patients. A few of the patientsexperienced a small
degree of improvement, reported The New England Journal ofMedicine last May.
But the others developed more severe symptoms than before,including constant
jerky motions.
"While the experiment did not specifically involve stemcells, the results
served as a reminder that any cells, once implanted, canhave not only
unwanted but irreversible side effects," concludedStephen S. Hall, a New
York Times contributing writer and author of InvisibleFrontiers, a book
about biotechnology.
Another favorite argument of embryonic research advocates isthat embryo
cells are more flexible than adult stem cells. But there isa dark side to
that advantage -- in addition to beingmore flexible, they are also less
controllable and have more potential to form tumors.
American citizens didn't hear about that danger when themedia reported that
scientists in Israel made embryo stem cells produce insulin."The popular
press said, 'Oh, now we are going to cure diabetes,'"said Prentice. "But
when I read the scientific paper, they only got 1 percent ofthe cells to
make insulin, the rest was a mix of a few muscle cells,nerve cells and even
cells still growing -- which means that if youinject diabetics patients
with this you are going to give them a tumor, not curethem."
Admittedly, adult stem cell benefits also need more testingto be certain,
Prentice said. But the media has repeatedly embellished theadvantages of
embryonic experiments while understating the success ofalternative research.
Back in Colorado, Nathan Salley just wants his life toreturn to normal --
no more tiring trips to Washington, no more media interviewsand, most
importantly, no more sickness. With his leukemia inremission, he wants to be
an ordinary teenager -- one who is no longerdefined by a disease or a
political debate, but instead anonymously enjoying highschool soccer games
and pizza parties.
And if scientific research continues in the rightdirection --
nondestructive stem cell therapy already proven to work
of other children like Nathan also can have that hope, ahope for life that
doesn't come at the expense of human dignity.
"I am not a doctor, a scientist or a theologian,"Nathan told Congress. "But,
speaking as one cancer survivor who benefited from cord celltreatment, it
does not seem right to me to terminate living human embryosbased on mere
speculation that they could lead to cures
not been exhausted."