Stem Cell Research
Hello all, I would like to take this time to post an e-mail that I got
from a good friend of mine about Stem Cell Research. Now I know that
most of my friends have read this on another site, but for those who do
visit me here and have no clue as to what I am rambling about, please
read!
"Hello Friends and Family,
I was watching TV the other day and saw a commercial regarding Proposition 71. This proposition is titled The California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative. In this commercial we are greeted by a young woman with her young child in a wheelchair. After giving a brief history of her child, she goes on to say that she was recently diagnosed with MS and this proposition would help in the aid for finding a cure for not only her wheelchair bound daughter, but for a cure for her MS as well.
Now, what exactly is stem cell research and why is there such a big debate over it? I know Pres. Bush is opposed to harvesting more stem cells, there are already 8 stem cells that have existed for numerous years are currently being researched, but Bush is not allowing any more. But why? Stem Cell research has been brought up many times, and more recently because of the former Pres. Ronald Reagan's death. Actors such as Christopher Reeve thinks stem cell research could find him a cure for his paralysis. Michael J. Fox is hoping it will help to find a cure for his Parkinson's. And Nancy Reagan is hoping it will help to find a cure for Alzheimer's so that no one else in the future will have to lose a loved one the way she lost Ronald.
Well, you all know that I have a Relapsing Remitting form of Multiple Sclerosis. I was diagnosed in 1999, one month before I got married to Marlon. I have had 4 attacks in 5 years, ranging from extreme fatigue, numbness, eye pain, and temporary loss of vision caused by optic neuritis due to a lesion (scar from an attack) which is located on my cranial nerve II. Those of you who know me well, don't even notice if I may be tired or if I am just recovering from an attack. Why? Because God only gives me what I can handle. I know I have this currently incurable disease for a reason. It's not the end of the world. There are people far worse than me who are just as happy as I am and are saying what I am saying, there is someone far worse off than me.
Now the million dollar question that I am getting to. Do I want stem cell research to find me a cure for MS? I DO NOT. I would rather die with my MS knowing that no harm came to another living thing. Here's the ethical question. First, what is stem cell research exactly?
Stem cell research is when discarded human embryos are used to devise medical treatments using their stem cells. Or where embryos are created for the sole purpose of being destroyed in order to develop stem cells that match a certain person's genetic makeup.
These actions, in my opinion, are wrong on several fronts. Beginning with basic medical ethics, the creation of human embryos for medical research is a violation of the very first principle of bioethics: "We cannot use a human merely as a means to an end." Each person -- even an embryonic person of only a week's gestation -- is an end in him- or herself. But this stem cell research will require the destruction of the embryo. We would be creating life so that it may be killed.
I know some of you might say, what about people with Parkinson's or Alzheimer's, or people like me with Multiple Sclerosis? What about people who need organ transplants? Doesn't the extremity of their medical need justify such extreme steps if it can help them? In my view, the answer is no, since we must kill the embryo to obtain the cells in the first place. But even if one could justify this kind of research on moral and ethical grounds, creating human embryos -- or even using discarded ones -- is simply not necessary in order to obtain the needed stem cells.
Within the last year, a great deal of evidence has emerged that indicates that stem cells can be obtained from a variety of sources. You don't have to create an embryo, or destroy one, to obtain such cells. And, this is the exciting part, in a number of leading journals such as Science, Nature, and Hepatology found that stem cells can be obtained from adult humans, using sources such as bone marrow cells. These cells would still have the all-important "pluripotentiality of stem cells" -- the ability to develop into heart, lung, or brain cells, or any cells that you desire, with the proper manipulation. Why make or destroy embryos to obtain stem cells when we don't have to?
If we grow comfortable with technology that allows the creation of a new embryo in order to harvest its tissue for medical purposes, it may also open the door to cloning as a means for making copies of an existing human being. Steps down that slippery slope, no matter how well intentioned, can lead only to disaster, both morally and medically.
Okay, so, I know that was long, and I thank you if you made it this far, just a bit more to explain.
Yes, I have MS, but I don't want a cure to be found for me this way. A cure can and will be found. There are places on this Earth not yet discovered that may find an herb or plant extract that could contain a cure. One of my long time friends who lived in China for many years and who thinks has MS thinks she is cured by some sort of Chinese herbal remedy. I'm not certain of the validity, but wouldn't it make much more sense to investigate another land's remedies than that of a discarded embryo?
These are only my thoughts, only my feelings. When I saw that commercial, I thought many of you might actually vote on Prop 71 because of the possibility of a cure for me or someone like me, a mother, father, brother, etc. But, I ask you not to vote for proposition 71. A cure will be found, I am confident, but not this way.
Thank you all for listening. Have a great week and if I don't see you before then, don't forget to vote!"
"Hello Friends and Family,
I was watching TV the other day and saw a commercial regarding Proposition 71. This proposition is titled The California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative. In this commercial we are greeted by a young woman with her young child in a wheelchair. After giving a brief history of her child, she goes on to say that she was recently diagnosed with MS and this proposition would help in the aid for finding a cure for not only her wheelchair bound daughter, but for a cure for her MS as well.
Now, what exactly is stem cell research and why is there such a big debate over it? I know Pres. Bush is opposed to harvesting more stem cells, there are already 8 stem cells that have existed for numerous years are currently being researched, but Bush is not allowing any more. But why? Stem Cell research has been brought up many times, and more recently because of the former Pres. Ronald Reagan's death. Actors such as Christopher Reeve thinks stem cell research could find him a cure for his paralysis. Michael J. Fox is hoping it will help to find a cure for his Parkinson's. And Nancy Reagan is hoping it will help to find a cure for Alzheimer's so that no one else in the future will have to lose a loved one the way she lost Ronald.
Well, you all know that I have a Relapsing Remitting form of Multiple Sclerosis. I was diagnosed in 1999, one month before I got married to Marlon. I have had 4 attacks in 5 years, ranging from extreme fatigue, numbness, eye pain, and temporary loss of vision caused by optic neuritis due to a lesion (scar from an attack) which is located on my cranial nerve II. Those of you who know me well, don't even notice if I may be tired or if I am just recovering from an attack. Why? Because God only gives me what I can handle. I know I have this currently incurable disease for a reason. It's not the end of the world. There are people far worse than me who are just as happy as I am and are saying what I am saying, there is someone far worse off than me.
Now the million dollar question that I am getting to. Do I want stem cell research to find me a cure for MS? I DO NOT. I would rather die with my MS knowing that no harm came to another living thing. Here's the ethical question. First, what is stem cell research exactly?
Stem cell research is when discarded human embryos are used to devise medical treatments using their stem cells. Or where embryos are created for the sole purpose of being destroyed in order to develop stem cells that match a certain person's genetic makeup.
These actions, in my opinion, are wrong on several fronts. Beginning with basic medical ethics, the creation of human embryos for medical research is a violation of the very first principle of bioethics: "We cannot use a human merely as a means to an end." Each person -- even an embryonic person of only a week's gestation -- is an end in him- or herself. But this stem cell research will require the destruction of the embryo. We would be creating life so that it may be killed.
I know some of you might say, what about people with Parkinson's or Alzheimer's, or people like me with Multiple Sclerosis? What about people who need organ transplants? Doesn't the extremity of their medical need justify such extreme steps if it can help them? In my view, the answer is no, since we must kill the embryo to obtain the cells in the first place. But even if one could justify this kind of research on moral and ethical grounds, creating human embryos -- or even using discarded ones -- is simply not necessary in order to obtain the needed stem cells.
Within the last year, a great deal of evidence has emerged that indicates that stem cells can be obtained from a variety of sources. You don't have to create an embryo, or destroy one, to obtain such cells. And, this is the exciting part, in a number of leading journals such as Science, Nature, and Hepatology found that stem cells can be obtained from adult humans, using sources such as bone marrow cells. These cells would still have the all-important "pluripotentiality of stem cells" -- the ability to develop into heart, lung, or brain cells, or any cells that you desire, with the proper manipulation. Why make or destroy embryos to obtain stem cells when we don't have to?
If we grow comfortable with technology that allows the creation of a new embryo in order to harvest its tissue for medical purposes, it may also open the door to cloning as a means for making copies of an existing human being. Steps down that slippery slope, no matter how well intentioned, can lead only to disaster, both morally and medically.
Okay, so, I know that was long, and I thank you if you made it this far, just a bit more to explain.
Yes, I have MS, but I don't want a cure to be found for me this way. A cure can and will be found. There are places on this Earth not yet discovered that may find an herb or plant extract that could contain a cure. One of my long time friends who lived in China for many years and who thinks has MS thinks she is cured by some sort of Chinese herbal remedy. I'm not certain of the validity, but wouldn't it make much more sense to investigate another land's remedies than that of a discarded embryo?
These are only my thoughts, only my feelings. When I saw that commercial, I thought many of you might actually vote on Prop 71 because of the possibility of a cure for me or someone like me, a mother, father, brother, etc. But, I ask you not to vote for proposition 71. A cure will be found, I am confident, but not this way.
Thank you all for listening. Have a great week and if I don't see you before then, don't forget to vote!"