AdultStemCell.com

Don Margolis asked:


Wales native, Michael Epps was just a normal 21 year old, playing soccer everyday while working in a warehouse. In 2007, unfortunately, for no apparent reason, Michael started suffering from horrible pains throughout his body. The doctors examined him thoroughly and gave him the dreaded diagnosis of Motor Neurone Disease.

A disease that normally occurs in people over the age of 60, Epps is believed to be one of the youngest patients ever to suffer from Motor Neurone Disease. The complications of Motor Neurone Disease include muscle deterioration, loss of mobility, and the disease eventually affects the ability to breathe, speak, and swallow.

Luckily, Michael’s parents came up with a plan. After doing some stem cell research on the internet, they saw that adult stem cells were helping patients with similar conditions to Michael’s. Therefore, when Michael’s sister Rhys was born, they froze the umblicial cord stem cells extracted from the cord blood. Later on, the cord blood stem cells along with Michael went to China where a stem cell doctor implanted the matching cord blood stem cells into Michael’s spinal cord.

It took almost 6 months, but eventually Michael began to see signs of improvement. These days, although not yet 100%, Michael’s condition has stopped deteriorating and now he is actually improving. There is much more definition in his muscles and he doesn’t need a wheelchair anymore.

Michael’s doctors believed Michael would have died in March 2008 and while the future is still unknown for Michael, he has plenty of hope now and is still trying to improve his quality of life.

Lawrence Ebert asked:


In January 2006, the journal Science retracted the 2005 paper by university professor Hwang Woo-Suk and co-workers which had proclaimed the existence of patient-specific embryonic stem cell lines. If the paper had been true, it would have suggested that tangible medical applications of embryonic stem cell might be close in time. Concerning the publication of this fraudulent paper, it is interesting to note BOTH that the referees and editors found no difficulty with the paper at submission AND that scientific experts in the embryonic stem cell field did not question the paper prior to the unraveling in December 2005. Nobody in the field could identify a fraudulent paper.

In my paper LESSONS TO BE LEARNED FROM THE HWANG MATTER: ANALYZING INNOVATION THE RIGHT WAY (88 JPTOS 239 (March 2006)), I noted that incidences of misstatements by academics in the published literature are not uncommon. For example, a Stanford University professor writing in the Stanford Law Review proclaimed that Gary Boone was the inventor of the integrated circuit. Mark A. Lemley, Patenting Nanotechnology, 58 Stan. L. Rev. 601, 612 (2005). This misstatement, ignoring the true inventors Noyce and Kilby, sailed right through the “review” process at the Stanford Law Review. Further, the “message” Lemley drew from the Boone invention of the IC was that The sum of all these stories is rather remarkable: for one reason or another, the basic building blocks of what might be called the enabling technologies of the twentieth century – including the computer, software, the Internet, and biotechnology – all ended up in the public domain. In reality, the IC is an example of a situation in which users had to pay royalties not to just one patent holder, but to two (Texas Instruments AND Fairchild).

Academic research is not the only area in which one must be wary.

Did New Jersey actually fund stem cell research?

A number of publications have suggested that the state of New Jersey was the first state to use public funds for research in embryonic stem cells:

New Jersey officials on Dec. 16, 2005 announced $5
million in grants for stem cell research, including
studies involving human embryonic stem cells. The
awards are said to be the first instance of a state
using public funds for such research.

The grants may appear to be modest compared with those
for other scientific endeavors, but they represent an
important step in New Jersey’s effort to establish a
stem cell research industry. With strong competition
already under way from California and Florida,
supporters say, New Jersey cannot afford to fall
behind.

”The grants we have awarded today are based on
science, not politics, and have been conceived by some
of the brightest minds and best institutions in our
state,” Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey said in a
statement. ”This funding will hopefully set the stage
for a new era in medical treatments that will ease the
suffering of millions and ultimately save lives.”

New York Times, B2, December 17, 2005

California’s pioneering initiative has caused a
backlash, as some states have enacted bans on publicly
funded embryonic stem cell research. Yet others —
including Connecticut, New Jersey, Texas and Illinois
– have recently approved small amounts of state
funding for research.

Los Angeles Times, B1, Feb. 27, 2006

“Californians’ decision to put out a welcome mat to embryonic stem cell research has prompted reaction among states that
don’t want to see a brain drain in biotech.
Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey have passed
state laws to encourage embryonic stem cell research.”

New Jersey Law Journal, Feb. 20, 2006

At this point in time, it is not clear that both houses of the New Jersey state legislature actually approved this expenditure of money, or that actual money has gone from the state of New Jersey to research institutions for funding stem cell research.

Google uses citation hits, not accuracy, to determine ranking of hits in search engine results

People are still only willing to look at the first few tens of results. Because of this, as the collection size grows, search engines need tools that have very high precision (number of relevant documents returned, say in the top tens of results). Indeed, search engines want the notion of “relevant” to only include the very best documents since there may be tens of thousands of slightly relevant documents.

Briefly, Google, in part, assigns “rank” on its search engine results much as Science Citation Index (SCI) assigned the “value” of a scientific paper based on the number of papers who cite to it. Google assumes you will find a given webpage more valuable if others have created links to it.

–> If a human reads a web page and finds it relevant, that human might put a link to it on his or her own site.

–> The higher the number of pages that link to a given web page, the more relevant it is.

Thus was born PageRank, brought to us by a small search engine called Back-Rub that later changed its name to Google.

With Google, we have a strong goal to push more development and understanding into the academic realm. Academics love citation index, and create mutual societies of cross-citation: I’ll cite your paper if you cite mine. Although some will say this is “objective,” a more apt description is that it is “quantifiable” according to relatively simple rules.

The citation (link) graph of the web is an important resource that has largely gone unused in existing web search engines. We have created maps containing as many as 518 million of these hyperlinks, a significant sample of the total. These maps allow rapid calculation of a web page’s “PageRank”, an objective measure of its citation importance that corresponds well with people’s subjective idea of importance. Academic citation literature has been applied to the web, largely by counting citations or backlinks to a given page. This gives some approximation of a page’s importance or quality. PageRank extends this idea by not counting links from all pages equally, and by normalizing by the number of links on a page. Links from well-linked pages are better indicators of quality.

An interesting example of why Google’s ranking system is not necessarily effective was in a study of Google searches for +”patent reform” +2795, in the time period after Lamar Smith’s HR 2795 on patent reform was introduced in June 2005. Initially, Google searches seemed rather underinclusive, but at least gave hits relevant to the content of the bill. As time went on, the number of hits increased dramatically, but there was an almost selective “weeding out” of substantive hits (those which really discussed the content of HR 2795 and what it might mean) in favor of more popular hits giving only cosmetic discussion of the bill. Webpages with significant content were almost eliminated.

Of the integrated circuit theme, a Google search of +Noyce +Kilby +”integrated circuit” on April 21 produced 34,300 hits. A search of +Boone +”intgrated circuit” produced 23,300, the first two hits of the search being directed to the case:

#1. http://www.law.cornell.edu/patent/comments/96_1514.htm on the case Hyatt v. Boone

#2. http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/Federal/judicial/fed/opinions/96opinions/96-1514.html on the case

Lemley’s “Patenting Nanotechnology” was among the hits:

lawreview.stanford.edu/content/issue2/lemley.pdf

siepr.stanford.edu/programs/SST_Seminars/Patenting_Nanotechnology.pdf

Thus, Googling can lead you to the conclusion that Gary Boone invented the integrated circuit.

Don Margolis asked:


Newsweek, Michael J Fox, and others are trumpeting the opinion that there is no cure for Parkinson’s or that a treatment for Parkinson’s Disease is going to take decades of stem cell research. However, many don’t know that there is a woman in Hawaii quietly living her life after being treated with adult stem cells 2 years ago in China.

Penny Thomas is the first known American to be treated successfully with stem cell treatment for Parkinson’s Disease. 2 years ago, Penny went to Beijing, China where doctors successfully implanted stem cells taken from a donor’s retina.

Although the mainstream media is largely unaware of this story. Many patients with Parkinson’s Disease have heard of Penny’s exploits and followed in her footsteps to go to Beijing for stem cell treatment. In fact, a few patients with Parkinson’s have even traveled to Hawaii to meet her to make sure she is real.

Penny states, “I’m really happy with my life because I have a life now,” she said. “I feel I can participate in life, and I’m grateful that I’ve replaced pretty much all the prescription drugs with herbs and amino acids, which I believe the body can handle much better.”

Penny is spending time in Hawaii and Colorado where she likes to go backpacking, camping, and riding her horses. Two years ago, before she was implanted with the adult stem cells, Penny was unable to participate in these activities.

Isn’t this a wonderful story? Then why isn’t it being publicized? Unfortunately, while the media focuses on embryonic stem cell research, successful treatments involving adult stem cells take a back seat.

Tracy Hildreth asked:


RNL Bio was established in Korea in 1961 and specialises in stem cell research as well as developing therapeutic products and regenerative medicine. RNL Bio is also currently conducting research at its site in Korea to develop a new product developed from a herb for the treatment of diabetes.

Science Parks such as Knowledge Campus and Netpark are supporting this high-tech industry growth, as is major investment into the region’s key sector strengths of health sciences, new and renewable energy and process industries.

Within a radius of only 45 miles there are five universities – Durham, Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland and Teesside. There is also a large network of further education colleges, with 18 of these offering higher education courses so there is a lot of academic talent in the North East.

Between them these institutions attract around 96,000 full and part-time students. The retention rate of graduates in the region is the highest outside London.

Around 10 per cent of the students in the region are from overseas, adding to the cultural diversity and increasingly outward looking perspectives of North East England. This gives an extra dimension to the unique Regional Language Network, set up to substantially increase the language skills of the region.

The UK Government has a range of national funding schemes to support companies locating to this country, and to support enterprise development. For example, new types of technology-focused venture capital funds have been created to enable high-potential, small companies to develop and grow. Regions like North East England have grants and other forms of financial assistance available to support investment by overseas organisations. The funding can be tailored to specific needs such as research and development.

One NorthEast and its partners provide advice on the most appropriate funding. The Agency can bring together funding partners to provide packages, to match individual business needs. The UK has an open, transparent and business-friendly culture that is highly tuned to the demands of international markets. UK businesses are responding to global changes and increasing worldwide competition by facing outwards and adapting new ideas and thinking.

This knowledge-driven approach, backed by huge public investments in education, training and business support, is a high priority in regions like North East England.

The region enjoys striking contrasts between the vibrant and increasingly cosmopolitan cultural life of its cities and large towns, its peaceful attractive countryside, breathtaking mountain and moorland scenery, and it’s beautiful unspoilt coastline.

North East England is home to 588 overseas companies from 32 countries, employing over 27,000 people therefore making an ideal place for overseas investors looking for business opportunities in the UK or business opportunities in England.

Margaret Mastrangelo asked:


What Is Vitiligo and What Causes It?

Vitiligo (Vi-ti-LIE-go) is a common skin disorder of melanocytes, the cells found in skin, hair and eyes. These cells produce the pigment melanin which gives us our hair, eye and skin color.

Vitiligo affects nearly 2 million people in the United States. It is characterized by the destruction of melanocytes and subsequently, loss of melanin. It affects males and females alike as well as all races. About 50% of those affected will develop vitiligo before the age of 20 and it generally does not occur in those over 40.

Thought to be an autoimmune disorder which can occur in families, the destruction of melanocytes leads to a loss of melanin. When this destruction occurs, white, patchy areas begin to appear on any part of the body. This can include the face, neck, arms and hands, or other areas that are exposed to the sun. However, vitiligo can also occur underneath the arms as well as in the groin area.

The loss of melanin can occur very gradually or occur at a fast rate. Depending on the body part affected, it can lead to severe psychological distress.

Treatment

Treatment has focused on four broad categories. These include:
topical medicines (usually steroids) oral medications combination of oral medications and ultraviolet therapy surgery for skin grafts

The choice of treatment depends on the severity of the condition as well as patient preference, and is aimed at restoring the pigmentation. If the area is small enough, tattooing is sometimes used to add color back to the skin. Other situations may require skin grafting if the area affected is small enough.

Stem Cell Research

More recent research has looked at the role of human embryonic and adult stem cells in treating disorders of melanocytes. Stem cells are primitive, undifferentiated cells with the capacity to develop into any of the 300+ types of human cells. These cells go on to become blood, bone, brain, heart, muscle and skin tissue etc., as well as develop into our different organs. This is why stem cell research holds out such promise for treating a multitude of diseases such as cancer, baldness, Parkinsons, multiple sclerosis – and even growing new limbs or treating spinal cord injuries.

With vitiligo, the first successfully derived melanocytes from human embryonic stem cells was achieved in 2005 (Stem Cells, 3/20/2006). Just recently, an Iranian man was reportedly cured from vitiligo using adult stem cells.

There is still a long way to go before stem cell treatment is commonplace in the treatment of vitiligo as well as other diseases but research is extremely promising. For more information on vitiligo, follow this link National Institutes of Health.

Mario Piperni asked:


“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.” -Marie Curie

Marie Curie’s words are ones which religion has battled over for the last 1000 years. From the Middle ages into the Renaissance into the present day, extremists from all religions have impeded the advance of science. Just ask Galileo.

As President Obama signs an executive order which will reverse the ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, we are set to embark on a renewed debate which asks the following: when should religious beliefs take precedence over science.

Stem cell research in the U.S. has been restricted for 8 years for pure political reasons. The Bush administration cowed down to its religious base in restricting federal funding to the 21 stem lines which were in existence at that time. Embryonic cell stem research, which holds the greatest promise for finding cures to many diseases (e.g. Parkinson’s and spinal cord injuries) had its funding shut down because religious groups were opposed to the destruction of embryos and the previous administration decided to choose politics over science.

The following is a brief primer on cell stems.

What are Cell Stems?

All 50 or so trillion cells in the human body originated from a single cell at the time of fertilization. As cells divide, they have the potential to either become stem cells or specialized cells – e.g. red blood cells, muscle tissue, skin cells. As an embryo develops it is these specialized cells which make up the many parts of the human body. Stem cells are simply cells which have not yet been induced (assigned) a special function.

Are there different types of cell stems?

Yes, there are 2 main types of stem cells – embryonic and adult.

Adult stem cells

Adult cells are the ones which exist in our bodies at this time and are used to replace the cells which die off or are damaged each day. An example of these would be the adult cell stems found in bone marrow which develop into and replace dying blood cells. Adult cell stems are restricted in that they have the physiology to develop only into a specialized group of cells – e.g. blood cells.

Embryonic stem cells

Embryonic stem cells which as its name suggests, are stem cells found in embryos. These cells can develop into any type of cell found in the human body. It is for this reason that embryonic cell stem research has such greater potential than adult cell stem study.

Where do scientists obtain embryonic stem cells?

Infertility clinics deal with tens of thousands of embryos each year by means of in vitro fertilization procedures. When no longer required they can be donated to researchers with the consent of the donor.

Why would religious groups protest the use of embryonic cell stems?

When stem cells are removed from an embryo, the embryo is destroyed. If one is of the belief that life begins at conception, then removing cell stems from an embryo is equivalent, for the believers, to destroying life.

What happens to the unused in vitro embryos if they are not used in fertilization or donated to science?

They are discarded.

Stem cell research is moving forward in most industrialized nations. It is only the U.S. which has been stymied in its research by the restrictions imposed by the Bush administration. So while I can understand the concerns of the religious, there comes a time when common sense must take precedence over religious beliefs. This is one of those times.

The earth is not flat and as Copernicus and Galileo discovered, the earth is not the center of the universe, despite the Church’s wish, at the time, to have its followers believe so.

Jason Witt asked:


When you receive the Seal you will understand the value of human life. Now (Jan 12 2008) human embryo stem cells have been produced from embryos without destroying the embryos.

In the last few months of 2007 there were breakthroughs in producing cells that were very much like human embryo stem cells (hESC) from ordinary skin cells. That was a tremendous breakthrough itself.

But hESC is still considered the “gold standard” for research and is still considered highly valuable and even necessary for research. Now thanks to this new research, it is possible to create hESC without killing embryos.

In 2006 a study showed that hESC could be derived from a single blastomere. A blastomere is the kind of cell created by the embryo in the very first week following fertilization when the embryo begins to divide.

But in that first study in 2006, many cells were taken out of each embryo so that they could not develop anymore. In this study, researchers derived five hESC lines without destroying the embryos, including one without co-culture.

Co-culture is the growth of distinct cell types in a combined culture. This meant that stem cells were needed from other embryos that ended up being destroyed. Co-culture is not a necessary part of this new procedure.

In this procedure, single blastomeres were taken out of the embryos using a process similar to preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD.) PGD is a procedure whereby embryos are made free of disease before implantation.

The “biopsied” embryos were further grown until they became blastocysts and then were frozen (instead of killed.) A biopsy is the removal of cells from the embryo, and the blastocyst stage is right after the zygote stage and before the embryo is known as an “embryo.”

The blastomeres were cultured with a technique that was comparable in efficiency to “whole embryo derivations” which destroy the embryos. This is important–the high level of efficiency makes it a viable procedure.

And the derived stem cell lines had the same kind of pluripotency as whole embryo derivations. Pluripotency is the ability of the stem cell to become a cell of any of the three germ layers–ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm.

The White House still needs to approve this new technique as a way to get stem cells without destroying the embryos. But this is a major advancement in science–a step forward for the sanctity of life.

This is a solution to the ethical problem of stem-cell research, since embryos can now “share” their life-giving cells with researchers who desperately need them, and still grow up to be healthy adults.

When you are sealed you will begin to understand the sanctity of life. You will understand how God gave Life to people in the beginning and continues to give Life to them.

Of course, the greater kind of life is spiritual Life. The life in this world is a gift from God but the spiritual Life for eternity in Heaven is the ultimate gift and much better than the short and miserable opportunity in this world.

When you are sealed God will give you new life. He will give you a second chance. And He will give you the chance to live forever with Him in Heaven when you receive the Seal.

Dr. Madalyn Ward, DVM asked:


Stem cells and stem cell therapy have received a lot of news coverage lately, some of it controversial, so this month I’ve decided to discuss stem cells in general, along with several approaches to stem cell therapy. The stem cell therapies I advocate are both legal and simple, especially with the advent of a new nutritional product called Stemplex, which I’ll discuss a little later. But first, a little about the stem cell itself…

Embryonic Versus Adult Stem Cells

A stem cell is an undifferentiated cell that can renew itself and develop into at least three different types of tissue. Embryonic stem cells are derived from early stage embryos and have the ability to differentiate into all adult cell types. Embryonic stem cells behave in a consistent way under a microscope but are much less predictable when injected into the body. They can offer some benefits for research but their use is controversial and they are not useful for actual treatments.

Adult stem cells reside in post-fetal animals. Examples are linage-committed such as hematopoietic stem cells that become red or white blood cells, or mesenchymal stem cells that can become many types of tissue, including bone, tendon, ligament, cartilage, heart, liver, or nerves. Sources of adult stem cells include bone marrow, fat, brain tissue, and muscles. Of all the tissues, fat yields the largest numbers of mesenchymal stem cells, while bone marrow or umbilical blood yield more stem cells that will become red or white blood cells.

Types of Stem Cells

There are several different categories of stem cells, including autologous, allogenic, and xenogenic. Autologous stem cells are those derived from the same animal. These are best for transplanting since there is no concern about them being rejected. Allogenic stem cells are from a donor of the same species. Since stem cells do not have the standard cell surface markers that would trigger immune response, these cells can potentially be used without fear of rejection by the host tissue. Xenogenic stem cells come from a donor of another species, such as a pig. Although one would expect these cells to be rejected, because of their unique characteristics they can survive, in some cases, when injected into the body of another species.

How Do Stem Cells Work?

The most commonly cited function of stem cells is their ability to differentiate into different tissues but they also have other abilities that can be very beneficial for healing. Stem cells produce over 30 types of growth factors and tissue chemicals that stimulate healing. Stem cells help recruit other local and systemic stem cells to focus on repairing damaged tissue. They are also active in immune modulation to promote or suppress T-cell function.

Stem cells are triggered to move into an area by signals from the tissue based on chemical, neural, and mechanical changes. Hypoxia, which is lack of oxygen, and inflammation are strong triggers for stem cells to target an injury, although the stems cells account for less than half of the new tissue formed. The rest of the repair is done by other cells recruited and managed by the initial stem cells. This is why very tiny injections of stem cells are used. Injecting larger numbers of stem cells into an injured area can actually interfere with healing, since some of the injected cells die and must be removed during the healing process.

Under ideal conditions stem cells would respond to injuries and healing would occur. Factors that affect stem cell response include the age of the animal, the fitness of the animal, and the level of free radicals in the body. Free radicals damage all cells, including stem cells.

Stem Cell Therapy in Horses

In horses the repair of ligament injuries has shown the most promise. Injuries to the ligaments in a horse’s lower leg are notoriously difficult to heal. Stem cells harvested from the injured horse’s own fat can be injected directly into the area of ligament damage to stimulate healing with less scarring, which decreases the chance of re-injury. In some cases bone marrow is harvested, but this tissue must be cultured to increase the numbers of mesenchymal stem cells.

Another promising stem cell therapy is based on increasing the numbers and activity of the animal’s own stem cells using nutrition. Just as scientists discovered that beta glucan is a nutrient that stimulates the white blood cells called macrophages, researchers have now identified nutrients that stimulate and cause the proliferation of stem cells. Based on this research, Simplexity Health has developed a product called Stemplex (TM) that contains green tea extract, wild blueberry, the amino acid carnosine, blueberry extract, vitamin D, and blue-green algae. I have been using this product on my own horse, who has chronically contracted and sore heels. Within just a month I am seeing improvement in his gait.

Stem cell therapy has huge potential and should be considered as a healing treatment for injuries or organ damage. In addition, systemic stem cell therapy shows promise in treating neurological conditions. Providing nutritional support for the body’s own stem cells is always a good option, which can be supplemented by using targeted injections of harvested stem cells. These injections are especially useful when nutritional support does not create enough healing effect or the injured area, such as ligaments in a horse’s lower leg, has poor circulation.

Josh Riverside asked:


Through the years, researchers have not stopped trying to discover the actual cause of hair loss and to find methods to prevent the condition or to promote hair growth.

Stem cell research related to hair growth has been on the news in recent years. Elaine Fuchs, investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Rockefeller University, discovered that two molecules signal immature stem cells to start producing hair follicles. With this knowledge, Fuchs and her team are seeking ways to use drugs to activate natural factors that would signal hair follicle growth in desired places and inhibitor drugs to stop hair growth in unwanted areas.

In separate news, but still related to stem cell research, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine were able to isolate the stem cell responsible for hair follicle growth. With the knowledge of which stem cell produces hair, researchers are pushing their study to find ways to manipulate hair growth. The next step is to use stem cell transplant as a treatment for hair loss.

A common problem for a cancer patient is hair loss, but recent news has reported a new radiation technique that prevents hair loss from occurring in brain cancer patients. Brain cancer treatment subjects the patient to a whole brain radiotherapy wherein two radiation beams are used to target the cancer from each side of the head. By using Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT), doctors are able to regulate the intensity and shape of the radiation beam to focus on the cancer without damaging the surrounding healthy cells, including hair follicles, thus reducing the amount of hair lost.

For a long period of time, an effective hair loss medication called finasteride is unapproved by the Food and Drug Administration to be taken by women because of its effects on fetus, but recent news reported that Matilde Iorizzo of the University of Bologna, Italy, has recommended that the medication be combined with contraceptives to treat hair loss. Studies conducted on women over a one-year period showed significant improvement in their hair loss condition using this method.

Lawrence Ebert asked:


In a May 12 article in the Los Angeles Times, Barbara Demick began her story about the indictment of Hwang Woo-Suk and five associates with the text: South Korean prosecutors announced today that they had charged scientist Hwang Woo-suk with embezzlement and fraud, saying he misused public funds for his fabricated experiments in human cloning.

The article is interesting for what it didn’t say concerning two areas that might be of relevance to people interested in how Proposition 71 is going to play out in California: the egg donation issue and the multiple fraud issue.

Of egg procurement, the Times article did not mention that Hwang Woo-Suk was also indicted for violating the Korean law on bioethics, adopted in January 2005. He paid money to women to obtain eggs for his research.

In December 2005, a U.S. stem cell researcher in commenting on what he saw as hyperventilation about the egg donation problem in Hwang’s lab, that, “Now that [Hwang] has done his public mea culpa I say the time is to forgive him and let him get back to plying his considerable craft.” The same researcher also wrote: We pay women to donate eggs for infertility treatment, and on the whole the practice has been done reasonably well. Donation for ESC research is as important. As long as full information, coverage, etc. are there, there is no reason per se why some financial compensation is not provided.

South Korea had adopted a strong legal framework concerning the procurement of human eggs. It was violated almost immediately, and now we have an indictment. Although the Los Angeles Times had written on April 27: [CIRM] also has adopted top-notch standards for research ethics and the protection of potential egg donors, one notes that it takes more than standards to see that people are protected. Embryonic stem cell research requires human eggs, and the pressure for researchers to obtain them is immense. Although it was widely rumored that Hwang Woo-Suk pressured subordinates into donating eggs for his 2004 paper in Science, and later that he paid for eggs, little action was taken at the time.

The theme of pressure is present in the multiple fraud issue in the Hwang matter. Although the May 12 Times article wrote “prosecutors said Hwang and an aide fabricated the data in two landmark papers,” the situation is a bit more complicated. The prosecutors confirmed Hwang’s initial claims that one of his junior researchers, Kim Sun Jong, falsified results of the 2004 and 2005 studies and that Hwang was initially unaware of this falsification. This was not a one-person fraud, or a concerted two-person fraud. Hwang was actually tricked by his subordinate Kim Sun Jong. This is not to say that Hwang did not commit fraud. He did. However, the Hwang saga illustrates how research pressures can cause bad acts, both as to a junior researcher (Kim Sun Jong) and to a team leader (Hwang Woo Suk). Although the May 12 Times article states that Hwang is now “despised as a charlatan,” the current situation, especially in South Korea, is more complex. Hwang wrote many articles which were accurate, and just as he was the perpetrator of fraud, he was also a victim of fraud. And, just as people in California want to believe in the end result of stem cell research, so do people in South Korea.

The story of Kim Sun Jong illustrates another point of relevance to Proposition 71. One of the selling points for state funding of stem cell research, in the presence of limitations in federal funding created by President Bush in 2001, was to forestall a loss of research presence from the United States to other countries. If there were no funding in the U.S., all of the U.S. stars of stem cell research would pack up and go to foreign countries more favorably disposed to stem cell research, and the U.S. would lose its edge in this area of potential high impact. The story of Kim Sun Jong is a counterpoint to this thinking. Working on a team perceived to be the world leaders in stem cell research, Kim Sun Jong, according to Korean prosecutors, falsified research results to obtain exchange fellowships in the U.S. He succeeded in getting to the U.S., specifically to the lab of Gerald Schatten at the University of Pittsburgh, who has obtained the most federal support for stem cell research. Ironically, in following up on leads of fraud done by Hwang, producers for Korean MBC-TV interviewed Kim Sun Jong in Pittsburgh on October 20, 2005, and, quite prophetically for that time, told Kim that both Science papers by Hwang would be retracted.

In summary, in failing to mention the egg procurement issue and the multiple fraud issue, the May 12 article in the Los Angeles Times lost the opportunity to illuminate two issues of high impact in the implementation of Proposition 71. Eggs will be needed to carry out embryonic stem cell research, and the potential for abuse, and disregard of that abuse, in obtaining eggs is a major, foreseeable, problem. Because the abuse in Korea occurred in the face of strong laws, the assertion that CIRM has adopted strong standards as to egg donation is not the final answer to this issue. Pressure on researchers to obtain significant results can lead to fraud. The Hwang matter involved independent frauds by at least two researchers, and does not fit neatly into the “one bad apple” box.

Steve Singleton asked:


President George W. Bush should be applauded for his July 19, 2006, veto of the embryonic stem cell research funding bill. He has had the courage to do the right thing despite tremendous political pressure.

Embryonic stem cells are extracted from blastocysts about five days after in vitro fertilization (IVF). In other words, a new human life is conceived and then after a few days is killed to obtain its stem cells. President Bush is right: to condone, encourage, or even fund such killing is crossing a moral line that should be unacceptable to everyone.

Once more: when does life begin?

This brings up yet again the definition of when life begins that has been discussed ad nauseum in the pro-life/pro-choice battles since before Roe v. Wade legalized most abortions in 1973. Pro-choice advocates have held that life begins at birth while pro-life advocates point to conception as the moment life begins.

Roe decided on a mediating position, focusing on viability, the point at which a fetus can survive outside the womb. It holds that for abortions during the first trimester, the state’s only compelling interest is t0 ensure that abortions are performed by a licensed physician in a clinical setting. In the second trimester, the state’s additional interest is to protect maternal health. During the third trimester (or after viability), the state may restrict abortions to those women whose lives are endangered by a continuation of their pregnancies.

In the three decades since Roe, prenatal medical advances have pushed viability closer and closer to conception, rendering Roe’s standards obsolete. Many children are born today as a result of IVF and later implantation of the fertilized ovum into the womb of either the donor mother or a surrogate mother. About 22% of IVFs result in live births.

The pro-life position on when life begins is simple: when conception occurs, the resulting embryo is a unique human, genetically indistinguishable from a newborn baby, and it is definitely alive. All that happens after that is added nutrition and growth. To end that life for whatever reason is morally wrong. Certainly we don’t want to start up an industry devoted to creating human life only to kill it while harvesting its components to use as “spare parts.”

The Bible affirms the value of human life by pointing to God as its source. All human beings derive their lives from the original couple, Adam and Eve, whose own lives came directly from God Himself (Genesis 1:26-27; 2:7, 21-23; 5:1-2). It recognizes the continuity between prenatal and neonatal existence (Psalm 139:13-16; Jeremiah 1:4; Luke 1:41-45).

Do alternatives exist?

Stem cell research offers many promising approaches to curing diseases such as cancer, Parkinson’s Disease, diabetes, heart disease, spinal cord injury, and liver failure. Do we turn our backs on the millions suffering from these debilitations by opposing factory-like production of embryonic stem cells that kill fertilized ova? No!

A number of alternatives exist for obtaining embryonic stem cells, including lines being grown in the laboratory, cells harvested from umbilical cord blood (formerly discarded after births, but now collected in a growing number of hospitals), cells retrieved from the pulp of baby teeth, etc. Adult stem cells are an alternative source that is finding increasing applications.

We can affirm the value of human life by protecting it from becoming a commodity to be bought and sold. At the same time, we can continue to develop the therapeutic applications of stem cells. It is not an either/or dilemma.

Want to go deeper?

Authoritative information on stem cells from all sources is available from the National Institute of Health.

Check out “Do No Harm,” the website of the Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics (stemcellresearch.org), which is mainly devoted to supplying credible information about the superiority of adult stem cells over embryonic stem cells for developing therapeutic treatments. The famous dictum, “Do no harm,” comes, not from Hippocrates’ famous oath, originally the credo of all physicians, but from another work of Hippocrates, On the Epidemics, 1.2.5. The Hippocratic Oath has the same concepts, including prohibitions on euthanasia and abortion. In modern times the oath has undergone considerable revision, the changes of which undermine this principle to avoid harm and completely omit all reference to the above prohibitions.

For the value of umbilical cord blood as a source of stem cells that avoids the controversy over killing human life, do a web search for “Stem Cells Sans Discord.”

Wayne Channon asked:


According to Wikipedia, Stem cells are cells common to all multi-cellular organisms that hold the ability to renew themselves through cell division and can differentiate into a wide range of specialised cell types.

The three categories of stem cells are considered to be:

Fisrt, embryonic stem cells, that are derived from blastocysts, then adult stem cells, which are found in adult tissues and finally, cord blood stem cells, which are found in the umbilical cord blood. In a developing embryo, stem cells are able to differentiate into all of the specialised embryonic tissues. In adult organisms, stem cells and progenitor cells act as a repair system for the body, replenishing specialised cells. Research in the human stem cell field is growing year after year as scientists find more and more use for stem cells.
Stem cells, which are the precursor cells that give rise to the 210 different kinds of tissue in the human body, are believed to have the potential to treat diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, diabetes, and cancer.

Human embryonic stem cell research may indeed have the potential to benefit many people who suffer from serious debilitating conditions. Because embryonic stem cells can develop into many different types of tissues, researchers hope these cells can be coaxed into replacing tissues whose function has been lost or compromised as a result of injury or disease.

On the other hand, the use of embryonic stem cells in research is raising a big debate. As scientists start speaking about cloning to produce human embryonic stem cells for use of medical therapies, some people seem to have a moral issue with the practice of cloning. The stem cell/cloning controversy raises, once again, the fundamental issue of personhood and the ensuing considerations of how human persons should be treated.

It would be interesting to see how people’s way of thinking will evolve in the future and to see whether or not, stem cells will be used to treat some diseases.