Anticipating the executive order from
President Barack Obama to expand Federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, claims
that science will now be encouraged rather than inhibited by "ideology" are
being heard from supporters of this action.
Will such funding really help advance science? Bernadine Healy,
former head of the National institutes of Health notes that several recent scientific
breakthroughs "reinforced the notion that embryonic stem cells, once thought to hold
the cure for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and diabetes, are obsolete."
Healy suggests the
remarkable advances of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) "are beginning to
subsume embryonic stem cells." On March 1st, scientists in Canada and England published a
paper showing they had turned skin cells into iPS cells. These iPS cells have
demonstrated equivalent capabilities of embryonic stem cells.
Even more significantly, their paper explained how they had successfully
reprogrammed ordinary skin cells into iPS cells without the use of viruses to transmit the
reprogramming genes to the cell. This new approach removes the risks associated with
the residual viruses previously remaining in the iPS cells.
Is it
really good use of Federal funds to support the obsolete science of embryonic stem
cell research? Given the current sources of scientific progress, does not such use
of Federal funding become just another "pork" project to pay off political
supporters? Why not use the money where it can make a real difference with iPS,
adult, and cord blood stem cells?
William
Beckman
Executive Director
Illinois Right to Life Committee
65 E. Wacker Place, Suite 800
Chicago, IL 60601
312-422-9300
beckman@illinoisrighttolife.org
www.illinoisrighttolife.org
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Illinois Right to
Life Committee, founded in 1968, is the oldest Pro-Life educational organization in
Illinois.