Oct 25 2006
What She Said: Fox Lied In His Ad
Sorry folks, not seeing much in the news today except a bunch of well beaten topics that are worth beating again. A doctor did write today at American Thinker about the Michael J Fox propoganda ad, and she supported all my statements from my previous posts. The essence of all this debate is this:
The plain fact is that embryonic stem cell research is proving to be a bust. There are currently 72 therapies showing human benefits using adult stem cells and zero using embryonic stem cells. Scientifically-minded readers can review this medical journal article on the status of adult stem cell research. Adult stem cell therapies are already being advertised and promoted while no such treatments are even remotely in prospect for embryonic stem cell research.
The fact is that adult stem cells have already produced remarkable cures, whereas embryonic stem cells have failed. This should come as no great surprise to anyone with a background in high school biology.When an embryo is created by the union of the sperm and egg, the cells begin to divide, creating embryonic stem cells from which all future tissues and organs are derived. Within days, the embryonic cells differentiate into three cell layers – ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm. Cells in these layers continue to differentiate into tissues and organs. As the embryo matures into a fetus, child, and adult, some undifferentiated cells of the three types remain in various tissues such as bone marrow, fat, skin and olfactory tissue.
These adult stem cells are multipotent: they have the ability to turn into a variety of types of tissues. Successful stem cell therapies cause the DNA in the adult stem cells to further differentiate into more specific types of cells. There is no point in getting the adult stem cell to turn into a less differentiated type of cell, or using the more primitive embryonic stem cells. This would be going backward, in the opposite direction of providing a clinically useful therapy. Difficulties abound with proposed embryonic stem cell therapies. The growth of the more primitive embryonic stem cells is more difficult to control and leads to tumor formation. Recent research suggests brain tumors may result. Additionally, the use of embryonic tissue foreign to the patient can potentially lead to problems with immune rejection of tissue, a problem not encountered in using a patient’s own adult stem cells.
Results: 72 therapies to 0. The big goose egg. Nada and Nyet. And the results are obvious to those of us with training in the field, as well as to the reasons why ESCR has utterly failed. So why is the result and the reason for the result that is so obvious so misreported and mistated? Why do people who know better misinform those who are not trained in the field? Why do most people lie? To gain something they cannot have any other way. Snake Oil Salesman have lots of rationals to con people. Greed, attention, God complex….. Who cares why they lie. It is only important to know they do and never, ever trust them to be credible again.
BD,
Your not serious, that is why your not getting a serious discussion. The definition of a clone is replicating the DNA into a copy. Not whether you bring it to term or harvest it for parts. Nature has natural clones. In fact I have a pair of them – my identicall twin daughters. Identical twins are a cloning because the original single human being split into two. They were created ‘naturally’. The real point is they were not created to harvest parts from.
Your use of terms you barely grasp (and in many cases misunderstand) is why you are not being taken seriously. The Bill tries to reqrite scientifically clear terms and make the new definitions law. OK, they gt gullible people to think they understand – BFD. The key is, an embryo is created and then destroyed. The embryo is a human being. It has to be because the term ’embryo’ defines the stage of life of the human being. It has nothing to do with whether it is human or not human. An embryo is an organism – by defintion. These are the 2+2 stages of understanding biology. And you can’t even get that right.
I suggest you stop posting your ignorance. Because this is life and death ignorance, I will continue to help those who want to know if something is murder or a tissue extraction. And those who get it wrong will have to deal with their own screw ups.