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Last Friday was a great day for the informed scientifically-minded American public and for seemingly hopeless hospital patients worldwide.
Because last Friday, newly elected President Barack Obama pledged to green light funding for American stem cell research.
This is exciting. You should be excited.
I’m
excited because it would have saved my family quite a bit of strife and
money when my dad donated a kidney to my brother in summer 2007.
Stem
cells are cells that could potentially be used to fill in any cellular
gaps – new organs, new blood, so on and so forth – and could be used as
an alternative to transplantation.
Why put my dad under the knife if my brother could grow his own kidney?
The use
of stem cells has become a major political and religious touchstone, a
journalistic talking point and a moral dilemma being argued between
John and Jane Doe.
The moral argument originates from the fact a number of usable stem cells come from aborted fetuses.
Seems like a legitimate concern. Yeah, you caught me: I hate abortion.
But this
hesitance seems to me to be borne mostly from ignorance, and regardless
of your stance on abortion, I would find it difficult for you to have a
valid hang-up about this practice because, like it or not, abortion is
still legal, and common, and what else, exactly, are we using these
fetuses for?
Why not do something for the greater good with them?
Or, why
not even go in the direction Obama’s promise is leading us, and find
these coveted stem cells from different sources altogether?
In 2004, scientists at Duke University discovered cells from human fat are usable as viable adult stem cells.
We can agree we’ve got plenty of that laying around the country.
Advanced Cell Therapeutics, based in South Africa, creates therapies using stem cells harvested from umbilical cord blood.
Stem
cells that can be used to recreate all types of blood cells were found
in placentas in 2007. Leukemia sufferers worldwide can breathe a sigh
of relief with this one.
Regardless
of where the cells are coming from, they still have far-reaching
medical applications. As recently as Jan. 19, scientists in Great
Britain have found reason to believe that embryonic stem cells could be
used to regenerate injured portions of human brains that have suffered
from strokes.
Could
you, in good conscience, tell someone that his or her brain damaged
mother is going to remain that way because some governmental bigwig
thinks abortion is wrong – and these fetuses should be wasted, and not
honored by curing the ailments of a currently living person?
You should try it some time.
Honestly,
the two aren’t related, and there has been an impressive misinformation
campaign waged solely to paint stem cells as paramount to murder.
As of
Jan. 21, there are 100,565 people on the government waiting list for a
new organ who could get a new one with a simple injection.
I’d say that’s pretty close to murder.
Patrick Babcock, a freshman English major from Raleigh, is an opinion writer.
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As for the abortion angle, just because its legal, doesn't mean the ends justify the means. I mean, people get murdered all the time and this creates available organs for transplants. Should we not try to stop murderers because it might dry up the available organs for transplants? It all creates a slippery slope to produce embryos for their destruction - fetal farming and cloning, if you will. And don't act all shocked. An informed scientifically minded person like yourself would already know that this is going on in Great Brittain and in New Jersey. New Jersey - the one here in the US. So does a failed and unpromising venture seem worth creating and kiliing embryos - the beginning of life? Anyone noticed the only political side pushing for this is the pro-abortion side? More government/taxpayer money, anyone?
And what of cord-blood cells or adult stem cells. Those have created treatments and therapys to help people with no loss of life or the destruction of anything. Do a little more research, Mr. Babcock. Science shouldn't involve emotion such as yours.