[Stitcher]

The Righteousness of Science
A local writer makes the case for stem cell research (Tennessee)

by Maria Browning

Embryonic stem cell research, which uses material from fertilized human eggs to explore possible treatments for a wide range of medical conditions, has become an issue the religious right counts on to mobilize voters. According to polls, Americans support embryonic stem cell research by a wide margin, but opponents have worked hard to tie it to the abortion debate. They’ve been so successful that for many people the very phrase “stem cell research” conjures up a grim vision of test tube babies, farmed for tissue and discarded. In Right to Recover: Winning the Political and Religious Wars Over Stem Cell Research in America (Nightengale Press, 322 pp., $19.95), Nashvillian Yvonne Perry tries to bring the rhetoric back to reality. She counters widely held myths by explaining the science of stem cells in layman’s terms, and makes a passionate case for pursuing the medical potential of this controversial research.

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[Howardh]

to Yvonne Perry for her compelling insight into "Blastocyst Research." Hopefully this will kick start essential research again which has stagnated since California allocated $US4 billon 3 years ago.


Perry begins Right to Recover with a straightforward description of just what a stem cell is and why the term “embryonic stem cell” is misleading to non-scientists. The cells with the greatest research potential are produced in the very earliest period after a human egg is fertilized. This tiny clump of cells is properly called a blastocyst and contains no developmental characteristics whatsoever. It is not an embryo and will never become one unless it is implanted in a woman’s uterus. Nevertheless, politicians and religious leaders have promoted the notion that scientists want to “kill embryos” to harvest stem cells. The federal funding ban and the public’s opposition, Perry contends, are largely due to this semantic confusion. Doctors and researchers “are mislabeling their own product when they refer to fertilized eggs (zygotes, morulas and blastocysts) as embryonic stem cells. The media is simply repeating this misnomer and fueling the flames of argument.”

GO HARD.... SCIENCE.

[michael178]

the religious right have mucked up a lot more than stem cells...to the point of being irrelevant in any serious conversation...is what I think

[olsen]

thanks for this post. as Paula quoted in another posting from the PD conference: "dr. ole Isaacson states, you need to have cells to be treated or cured". madelyn

[vlhperry]

The author is trying to gain attention for herself by speaking in scientific terms her theory of the possibilities that could be found by further stem cell research. This is no longer about religion. It has been researched in the US by private firms and foreign countries for almost 30 years and has yet to show any positive treatments for any type of disease. It is now about economics. How can patients continue to support throwing money at a theory for 30 years which has no proven results. Why not save the money and tell Parkinson's patients Sinemet is good enough a treatment for their symptoms and stopping further research all together.

Researchers are pulling away from ESCR not for reasons of Government law, but for financial reasons. Who wants to keep investing in a scientific theory that hasn't produced results in 30 years? This is no longer a religious right choice but a economic choice. The United States are quickly approaching a depression. In Minnesota we are having auction sales of foreclosed homes lost by honest people trying to get a middle class niche in the American Dream. Several companies have recently announced a fresh round of lay-off of workers which will only pour oil on the flames of National depression.

Europeon markets are also dropping in the securities market. Many people blame the war as a reason for America's economic woes. As much as we have spent on the war, far more has been spent on personal computers, Ipods, Big Screen TVs and other entertaining technology.

We need a cure soon as the baby boomers have now reached retirement age. Those who attended Woodstock, saw personally firsthand the students shot on the campus for protesting the Viet Nam war, are seeing conspiracy theries behind every government piece of legislation. Media saw money to be made by imitating success of the deep throat conspiricies proven by two press people and have changed their ethics from reporting the news to interpreting the news and telling people what their beliefs and principles should be. The "Love and Peace Movement" has turned responsible American citizens into a country where everyone is allowed to decide for themselves what morality is. This has caused America to lose its united value system and begin its fall into chaos. We as a generation, have left a world less perfect for our children.

My sons are left to try to pick up the pieces and to search for morality in their lives. In my youth I was as selfish as anyone else and sought a divorce to find my dream, leaving my children with their father to raise them. He wasn't a father, he was a best friend. My children raised themselves without the adult supervision they needed. Amazingly they have better values than I did, and have taught me a great deal. One is studying to be a doctor, the other a lawyer. My elder son had problems dealing with today's society, needing more structure in his life.

The "old time religion" was the foundation of our forefathers who founded our country. They did not ban people from practicing their respective faiths, but enforced tolerance for different faiths to live togeather in piece. The Federal Government was formed to provide protection for their citizens to practice their personal religious beliefs in peace. There is very little "old time religion" practiced in our country. Gradually Americans have turned away from reading their bibles to searching for the almighty dollar.

You do not have to have a religion to live well on this earth, but you must have similiar set of principles (which throws the political meaning of tolerance out the window) to have a successful society. Tolerance does not mean each to their own set of morals with no ability to judge others for their set of morals. Tolerance means to agree on specific rules for society, but for the spiritual man to be left to believe in their own private religious beliefs.

Vicky

[proudest_mama]

Well said, Vicky ...

You are absolutely right in that money, money, and more money are being thrown into this and it's not because of governmental control that we don't have answers. It's because it's not a viable option. If anyone thinks for just one minute that the rich and famous ... or the rich and unfamous ... haven't put millions into this area already, and it hasn't panned out, then they are sorely mistaken.

I also go back to one of my earlier messages ... if you think that socialism is
the answer, where everyone is treated equally, (and there are no moral restrictions put in place), then think again and go LIVE that lifestyle for a few years. What bothers me about some Americans is that their belief that they are "entitled" to something simply because they were born here in the U.S.

My husband went to 10 years of college ... and, yes, he makes a good living.
But if that incentive is taken away, what we'll have is a problem that a lot of Europe is already facing ... no one wanting to even go to college because they'll be taken care of either way.

I do believe that I am entitled to my belief, just as you are to yours, and as long as we do so in a respectful manner,

[ol'cs]

some of us for 20 years or more now that there will be a cure for PD by now. How many scientific conferences in the neurological sciences have come and gone where budding neuroscientists have presented their "project data" relating to stem cells; their production, manipulation and implanting, and finally, the "results". What has happened? Well in my mind a lot of bright people have got jobs in academia and industry based on the "quality" of their theses, but the real extentions to their work have never been followed through. THe reason, because their is "No future" in stem cell work, and because of political ramifications , stem cell work has been destined to the "trash heap" of many biopharmaceutical companies and universities, because they can't obtain enough support to see the area produce viable results.
I firmly believe that neuronal cell lines that are dopamine producing, stable, and usable in the augmentation of existing dopamine producing areas in the brain, can be "built" that will do the job which we seek, and do it well.
IT kind of reminds me of great discoveries made in the past such as Copernicus' ideas followed by Kepplers' refinements to understand the movements of the planets in the night sky. At first the pioneers were almost pilloried for their "heretic" ideas. BUt once society accepted the results, and the church was no longer afriad to accept the inevitable idea that we were not the center of the universe, great strides were taken to advance science in the area of astronomy. THis science was no longer the subject of religious inquisition and persecution.
Just how long we have to go before the world accepts that the "production" of new functional cells, and their efficient ability to conquer diseases is indeed workable and ethically no big deal, is anybodies guess. All that can be said now is that the present time between concepttion of such ideas and their fruition has been very slow, almost ignored.
This does not bode well for us the advancing ones, but time's arrow always moves forward, and "Some day" there will be no more PD. cs

[vlhperry]

Dear Ol CS,

Until we know how the disease is acquired, there is no proof the replacing the neuron dopamine producing cells will bring about a cure. I am sure you are aware of mitochondria, the transport system that delivers the dopamine to the required cells. Alpha synuclein protein tangles block the passage of the dopamine, causing the dopamine to back up in the substantra Niagra and begin self destructing.

This has been a proven scientific theory for years. It is one example of why replacing the cells will not work if we don't know how someone acquired Parkinson's disease in the first place.

I don't think a cure will occur in my lifetime. But I have educated myself and believe I am getting the best treatment possible. I have stopped reading the latest research studies and accepted the disease as a permanent part of my life. I have stopped making my family focus on finding a cure for PD.

We all have to die of something. At least I have lived long enough to see my 3 sons grown and independent. More than likely I will outlive my husband. The thing that scares me most is losing him.

I am sorry your hopes have been dashed that stem cell therapy might have been a cure for some. Don't think for a minute that research has stopped. Some believe that it may actually be caused somewhere else such as the intestinal tract. I believe it is environmental and for some a combination of genes and environment.

Vicky

[reverett123]

<Begin quote>
Until we know how the disease is acquired, there is no proof the replacing the neuron dopamine producing cells will bring about a cure. I am sure you are aware of mitochondria, the transport system that delivers the dopamine to the required cells. Alpha synuclein protein tangles block the passage of the dopamine, causing the dopamine to back up in the substantra Niagra and begin self destructing.

This has been a proven scientific theory for years. It is one example of why replacing the cells will not work if we don't know how someone acquired Parkinson's disease in the first place.
<End quote>

I stand in awe.......

[vlhperry]

04 Dec. 2004 - "
Researcher Jian Feng, University of Buffalo, shows mutatations in the Parkin gene, combined with the toxic effects of the chemical Rotenone, results in a cascade of highly toxic free radicals, the destruction of microtubules that transport dopamine to the brain's movement center, and eventual death of the dopamine producing neuron."

Contact: Lois Bakjer
LjBaker@buffalo.edu
716-645-6000 x1417

Your Humble servant,
vicky