LIFE DIGEST: Researchers moving to reprogrammed cells from embryonic ones
- Aug 19, 2008 - 1
Prominent scientists previously committed to stem cell research that destroys human embryos apparently are shifting their allegiance to reprogrammed stem cells that do no harm.
Harvard Stem Cell Institute’s George Daley, a former president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, is talking up reprogrammed, or induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSCs), the online newsletter BioEdge reported Aug. 14. Only three years ago, Daley testified before a U.S. Senate committee that reprogramming was “extremely high-risk” and cloning for destructive embryonic stem cell research (ESCR) was preferred, according to BioEdge.
Daley and fellow researchers have used reprogrammed stem cells to produce cell lines for 10 diseases, including muscular dystrophy, juvenile diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and Down syndrome, according to a report in the journal Cell, Bio Edge reported.
“We wanted to produce a large number of disease models for ourselves, our collaborators and the stem cell research community to accelerate research,” Daley said. “The original embryonic stem cell lines are generic, and allow you to ask only basic questions. But these new lines are valuable tools for attacking the root causes of disease. Our work is just the beginning for studying thousands of diseases in a Petri dish.”
As a result, Daley and other scientists have progressed further using reprogrammed cells “in six months than he had in years toiling over embryonic stem cells,” BioEdge observed.
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) appears to be moving toward IPS cell research as well, according to BioEdge. In an Aug. 13 news release, CIRM described itself as “the largest source of funding for embryonic and pluripotent stem cell research in the world” after long calling itself a funding source only for ESCR, according to the newsletter.
“It appears that the CIRM’s love affair with slow, inefficient, expensive, ethically fraught and legally complex human embryonic stem cells may be drawing to a close,” BioEdge commented.
Bioethics specialist Wesley Smith wrote of the developments on his weblog, “It may not yet be a full fledged exodus, but it would appear that the tide has changed dramatically.
“If this continues, and it becomes clear that the tide is irreversibly flowing toward IPSCs, the political ability to create an international ban on human cloning with the catcalls of CURES! CURES! CURES! to distract leaders from doing the right thing will increase. We may actually be able to throttle human cloning before it gets too far out of the test tube.”
Reprogrammed cells, or IPSCs, gained worldwide attention in November when research teams in Japan and Wisconsin reported they converted normal human skin cells into stem cells that were, in effect, embryonic in nature.
Embryonic stem cells are considered “pluripotent,” meaning they can develop into all of the different cell types in the body. Adult stem cells, also referred to as non-embryonic stem cells, typically have been regarded as “multipotent,” meaning they can form many, though not all, of the body’s cell types. The 2007 study results showed adult cells can become “pluripotent.”
The stunning reports were issued only days after cloning pioneer Ian Wilmut startled the scientific world by announcing he had abandoned research, or therapeutic, cloning in favor of the reprogramming method.
Stem cells are the body’s master cells that can develop into other cells and tissues, giving hope for the development of cures for a variety of diseases and other ailments.
BioEdge says its seeks to promote ethics and compassion in medicine.
APA report on abortion, mental health refuted
A new American Psychological Association (APA) report that denies there is credible evidence that a lone abortion causes mental health problems in women is under attack.
The APA Task Force on Mental Health and Abortion released a draft report Aug. 12 after reviewing studies in peer-reviewed publications since 1989. According to the task force, many of the studies from the last two decades were flawed methodologically.
“The best scientific evidence published indicates that among adult women who have an unplanned pregnancy, the relative risk of mental health problems is no greater if they have a single elective first-trimester abortion or deliver that pregnancy,” said Brenda Major, chair of the task force, in a written release. “The evidence regarding the relative mental health risks associated with multiple abortions is more uncertain.”
Pro-life advocates, including representatives of national post-abortion and pregnancy center organizations, said the APA task force ignored or minimized credible research that contradicts its conclusion. A New Zealand researcher whose 2006 study showed abortion increases the risk of severe depression in young women criticized the task force report.
“The APA report, in fact, does draw a very strong and dogmatic conclusion that cannot be defended on the basis of evidence since this evidence is lacking by the admission of the report,” David Fergusson said, according to LifeNews.com. “What the committee has, in effect, said is that until there is compelling evidence to the contrary, people should act as though abortion has no harmful effects. This is not a defensible position in a situation in which there is evidence pointing in the direction of harmful effects.”
Fergusson’s 2006 study found about 42 percent of women who underwent abortions had suffered major depression within the last four years, a rate almost twice the number of women who had not been pregnant, LifeNews reported.
New York City still U.S. abortion capital
New York City remains, far and away, the abortion capital of the United States.
While abortion takes the lives of 24 babies for every 100 live births in most parts of the United States, 72 unborn children die for every 100 who are born alive in New York City, according to Crain’s New York Business.
Other statistics reported by the business newspaper were:
- 90,157 abortions were performed in the city in 2006, the most recent year for which figures are available.
- Nearly 250 abortions were performed daily in the city.
- 93 percent of the abortions were on city residents, as opposed to years ago, when as much as two-thirds were performed on women from out of town.
- 45 percent of the abortions were on black women, though the city’s population is only about 24 percent African American.
The high abortion rate apparently indicates abortion is a method of birth control for many women, Crain’s reported. “No doctor would ever tell a woman that abortion was one of the choices she should rely on for contraception,” said Iffath Hoskins, chief of obstetrics and gynecology at Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn.
Drugs too costly for some lives, British agency rules
Brits with terminal health conditions should not expect their government’s health-care system to help them if their lives are determined to be unworthy of the cost.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has decided drugs should not be prescribed to save or extend lives if they are too costly for the benefit, The Independent reported Aug. 12. NICE said the “rule of rescue,” in which all costs are set aside in order to save a life, should not be used by England’s National Health Service.
“When there are limited resources, applying the ‘rule of rescue’ may mean other people will not have the care or treatment they need,” NICE said, according to the British newspaper.
NICE, an independent agency that provides guidance on treatment and the use of medicine, had received criticism for recently rejecting four new drugs for kidney cancer that have been proven to help a person live an additional five or six months.
NICE’s decision ignored the recommendation of its citizens council, which voted 21-6 to aid people in “desperate and exceptional circumstances,” The Independent reported.
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission works to protect the sanctity of human life. If you would like to learn more about this issue, additional resources are available here. If your church is interested in purchasing bulletin inserts or other materials on the sanctity of human life, please visit our online bookstore and erlc.com.
Further Learning
Learn more about: Life, Abortion, Cloning, Stem-Cell Research, Science, Bioethics
1 comments (post your own) feed
1 On Aug 25th, 2008, at 8:01am, Jolene Atkins wrote:
RE: Researchers moving to reprogrammed cells from embryonic ones
This is good news! Where is the actor, who lied about stem cell research? Where are the Liberal Democrats and the Liberal Media who refused to report all sides of the issue and who refused to acknowledge that there were alternative ways to do this research? Strangely silent! I am thankful that we have President Bush, who stood up for what is right!
Jolene Atkins