Adult stem cells good, rapacious embryonic harvesting bad, vol. II

Wesley J. Smith is a leading bioethics researcher with the Discovery Institute. He's written two books before, one on assisted suicide and another on the bioethics industry. In this article he discusses the pros of adult stem cell research (ASCR) over against the many cons of embryonic SCR (ESCR).

Discovery Institute - Article Database - The Wrong Tree

(from NRO, 13 May 2004)

... In animal studies, embryonic-stem-cell treatments have been found to cause tumors. ...

Tissue rejection is another major hurdle to the use of embryonic stem cells in medical treatments. This is why ESCR is known as the gateway to human cloning, since one proposed way out of this potential dilemma is to create cloned embryos of patients being treated as a source of stem cells, a process known as "therapeutic cloning." ...

Besides being immoral, therapeutic cloning also looks to be wildly impractical. For example, a recent report published by the National Academy of Sciences warned that it could cost in the neighborhood of $200,000 just to pay for the human eggs to derive one cloned human embryonic-stem-cell line.

... Several studies, including one published in the March 25, 2004, New England Journal of Medicine, have now shown that over time embryonic-stem-cell lines develop severe chromosomal anomalies, including a form of cell change found in some types of cancer. ...

Fortunately, embryonic stem cells are not the only potential source for regenerative medical treatments. There are also adult stem cells, umbilical-cord-blood stem cells, and other cellular-based treatments that do not use embryos at all. Here we see a completely different picture emerging. Under-reported by the ESCR-besotted mainstream media, many of the diseases that embryonic cells are supposed to treat may be ameliorated with adult-stem-cell and related therapies far more quickly. These include:

Heart Disease: ...

Diabetes: ...

Neurological Conditions: ... German researchers cultured human bone-marrow stem cells and were able, within a few weeks, to morph them into mature neural or glial cells. We learned just this month that cells derived from dental pulp can be transformed into neural cells and may someday be a readily available source of treatment for conditions such as Parkinson's.

... Cells from human fat have proven to be true adult stem cells that look to be useful in regenerative medicine. Indeed, it appears that 62 percent of human fat cells "could be reprogrammed into turning into at least two other different cell types," according to Duke University researchers.

... As Colorado stem-cell activist Jim Kelly — a paraplegic who believes his best hope of walking again after an auto accident lies in adult-stem-cell treatments — told me, "We have to use our limited resources efficiently. Money spent on embryonic-stem-cell research and human cloning is money that cannot be spent on [investigating] adult stem cells." ...