We need a committment to the pro-life position on embryonic stem cell research funding, not more teasers like “open to alternatives”. Do you think that you will lose independents or cross-over voters because of adhering to (at least) the status quo on this issue? Doubtful.
Related article: John McCain Keeping Open Mind to Embryonic Stem Cell Research Alternatives
Related blog post: I Do Not Trust John McCain
Karl Keating and Catholic Answers have come up with an important “state of stem cells” educational bulletin insert which we can all help fund and disseminate. They aim to send Stem Cells, New Danger, New Hope to every parish in the U.S., and even to each member of Congress before November.
That’s right folks, November. Are we really that pessimistic? Well no. But even if Senator Obama is not elected, there is still so much at stake - possibly many of the life-saving and life-affirming legislative gains regarding the funding of stem cell research put in place by President Bush. Some believe that recent iPS breakthroughs have undermined the demand for embryonic stem cell lines . . . but there is little evidence to support this idea. Well, read all about it at Catholic Answers, and consider how you can help get this bulletin everywhere it needs to be read . . . and soon!
Last year Fr. Thomas Berg, founder of the Westchester Institute, was appointed to the ethics committee of the newly formed Empire State Stem Cell board. I wondered (aloud) if he would be able to be a positive influence as a voice not just for alternative sources of stem cells, but for the larger field of adult stem cell research. Well, now we know! Kudos to Fr. Berg for this National Review article, “New York’s $600 Million Dollar Question” :
My intense exposure to the field of stem-cell research over the past eight years has too often revealed a largely unsubstantiated bias favoring work on human embryonic stem cells over other types of research — especially work on adult stem cells. And today, this is a bias turned scientific and political ideology, one that too often dominates the imaginations of those who hold the purse strings on private and State funding.
Editing to note that Don Margolis has blogged this article, too. For those looking for sickle cell anemia news, it’s worth your while to check out Fr. Berg’s article for information about Dr. Lubin’s research. As a carrier of this trait, I know that adult stem cell therapies are “where it’s at” for sickle cell disease (and so many others) . . . but apparently CIRM can’t absorb that inconvenient truth.
Leticia poses the scenario, “What to do if Obamamania hits home?”
Let’s raise the stakes: What do you do if you live in the eye of the Obamamania hurricane? That’s right, what’s a good Catholic girl living in Illinois to do?
1) Allow yourself to feel a momentary surge of unbridled joy. There is a very real possibility that Barack Obama will not be your senator for much longer. Of course, that doesn’t help with the fact that Sen. Durbin, Governor Blago, and Attorney General Lisa Madigan are working hard with your tax dollars to perpetuate the reign of gloom and doom that is the scene in Illinois . . . but surely I digress.
2)Allow the momentum from that first unreflective surge of unbridled joy to keep you from falling to the floor in despair once you completely comprehend the real possibility that Mr. Obama could be your next President. Please don’t pass out - it may be interpreted as a swoon.
3)Get the facts, get busy, and get a t-shirt. The t-shirt is a nice touch isn’t it? It’s not really safe to wear that outside Dupage county though - just fair warning.
Fact: Mr. Obama sponsored the misleadingly named Ronald Reagan Biomedical Act of Illinois and the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act in DC - both promoting extravagent funding for embryonic stem cell research. Mr. Obama appears to have a slightly more sophisticated knowledge of the stem cell world than many of our politicians, which unfortunately makes it less excusable that he stood before President Bush and said:
All over the country, exciting progress is being made in the area of embryonic stem cell research. At the University of Illinois, they’re finding that stem cells have the potential to treat blood disorders, lung diseases, and heart damage. . .
without so much as even nodding to the fact that adult and amniotic fluid stem cells are not potentially treating these problems . . . but in fact, already are. Thankfully, President Bush was not impressed.
In his own bid for the Oval Office, 2008, Mr. Obama reaffirms his commitment to federal funding for embryonic stem cell research:
“This is about a commitment to medical research, under strict federal guidelines. … [We must] expand the current policy on embryonic stem cell research so that we can begin finding the cures of tomorrow today.”
Change? Folks, this isn’t pocket change. We are talking billions of dollars to be spent on research that is morally reprehensible to many Americans.
Fact: Mr. Obama opposed the Supreme Court’s recent ban on Partial Birth Abortion.
Fact: Mr. Obama opposed the Born Alive Infant Protection Act - a stance that put him even left-field of NARAL. Scary. Try that one on sally swooner.
While there are many who cannot, for whatever reasons, understand that the human embryo has inherent dignity and should be respected, and still others cannot find themselves opposed to any abortion procedure, even the most repugnant, surely they will bat an eye at the idea that an already born baby should not be given the respect due a human person.
As for Barack Obama, the only batting he has done is zero for three in these crucial life issues.
Obamamania? Change that some, literally, won’t be able to live with.
Thanks be to God! Yesterday Judge Patricia Joyce upheld the challenge by Missouri Cures Without Cloning to Secretary of State Robin Carnahan’s inaccurate and blatantly biased ballot summary for a constitutional amendment to truly ban human cloning in Missouri. I am incredibly pleased and quite frankly surprised at the ruling. The revised language is much closer to the purpose of the actual Amendment than Carnahan’s disgraceful language.
Because of the lawsuit, progress has been delayed for quite some time. So we still have very hard work ahead of us if we are to have any chance of getting this on the ballot in November, especially if the opposition decides to appeal in an effort to halt the signature gathering process. Please keep us in your prayers so that we can finally, truly ban human cloning (and promote REAL hope for therapies and cures) in Missouri!
Try this one:
Rosary Crusade Safeguarding Embryonic Human Life
Also, visit the CWC blog!
The dishonesty of the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures did not end with Amendment 2 and Wesley Smith has been doing an excellent job of keeping up with their lies and false accusations. See, More Lies from Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures and The Mendacity of Missouri Coalition for Life Saving Cures
Lately the chairman of MCLC has been using his voice to hail the the recent iPSC breakthrough (because, after all, they support “all forms of stem cell research”) and at the same time arrogantly assert that Amendment 2 opponents would have somehow prevented this breakthrough from happening, if they had their way (see here and here):
If anti-embryonic stem cell research groups had their way, this outstanding science would not have been possible. They would have blocked the very groundwork that led to the reprogramming of ordinary human skin cells into embryonic-like stem cells. If they get their way now, they will block the important research required to bring this new technique to its full lifesaving potential…Those who threaten to repeal Missourians’ access to stem cell research should allow scientists to conduct the work necessary to achieve the goals that I hope we all share: to cure disease and improve the lives of patients and families.
This is absolutely ludicrous since what we’re trying to ban here is human cloning, which had absolutely nothing to do with the iPSC discovery. Either Don Rubin is incredibly ignorant of the scientific facts surrounding the work done on iPSCs, or he is intentionally muddling the truth to advance his own agenda. Based on the nature of his Amendment 2 campaign, my guess, unfortunately, would be the latter. From Smith:
But more to the point of this post, if the opponents of Amendment 2 in MO had gotten 100% of their way, it would not have stopped the development of the new reprogrammed cells, the ESCR theoretical “heart patch,” or the drug testing. None of that work directly or indirectly involved stem cells derived from human cloning (somatic cell nuclear transfer), which has not yet been done in humans. ESCR per se is not the subject of a proposed initiative to outlaw all human cloning in MO and hence all of the research successes Rubin mentions would have been unaffected. Those are scientific facts, not opinion.
It’s a dirty job keeping up with the cloners, but somebody’s got to do it. Thanks Wesley!
First, if you don’t visit over these few remaining days of Advent, we want to take this opportunity to wish you all a beautiful and holy Christmas season. We have so much to celebrate in the very Incarnation and birth of Christ our Savior! Truly, let us REJOICE!
Second, we have great news to share with you! Our friend and sponsor Bill Schneeberger’s Christmas gift was delivered a little early . . . and the mission behind this blog is truly beginning to unfold as hoped. Bill has been working for a long time to secure a Presidential Proclamation designating June as Adult Stem Cell Awareness Month. Finally, Alabama Governor Bob Riley has sponsored and drafted the request letter, and is sending it to President Bush as I write. Senator Sam Brownback’s office and, in particular, his Chief of Staff, Robert K. Wasinger, will be following the request closely and assisting with the proclamation process.
If President Bush does indeed designate June as Adult Stem Cell Awareness Month, so much can be done on the federal level to help educate Americans about the real hope and real cures that come from adult stem cell research and therapies. Awareness campaign proclamations really work - skeptical? Think pink . . . or red . . .
We’ll follow up after the new year to suggest ways that you can help bring about Adult Stem Cell Awareness Month - stay stuned. And most of all, have a happy and grace-filled Christmas!
Great article in the Catholic Explorer today:
Catholics move to end Illinois funds for embryonic stem-cell research
By Mark Indreika
Catholic News Service
ROMEOVILLE, Ill. (CNS) — In light of new scientific evidence demonstrating how primitive stem cells can be created without destroying human embryos, the Catholic Conference of Illinois is pushing for new legislation to end state-sanctioned funding of embryonic stem-cell research through the Illinois Regenerative Medicine Institute.
“Human embryos should not be used in any type of research, and that should be in the law,” said Zach Wichmann, associate director of education for the conference, the public policy arm for the state’s Catholic bishops.
In addition to being immoral, he said, there is no scientific reason to continue using embryos.
“We think now that science has progressed to a point where it seems that embryonic stem-cell research is no longer necessary — that we can ban that procedure,” Wichmann told the Catholic Explorer, Joliet diocesan newspaper, in a telephone interview from his Springfield office.
Recently two research studies independently confirmed that ordinary skin cells can be genetically reprogrammed to work as effectively as embryonic stem cells. Wichmann said the new research poses no moral conflict since human embryos are not needed.
Dr. Patrick Stiff, director of Loyola’s Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center in Maywood, said genetically manipulating a patient’s own skin cells to regenerate new tissues eliminates any chance of rejection or the need for powerful anti-rejection drugs.
Speaking with the Explorer on the telephone, he said, “It’s the ideal way of getting enough cells for anybody.” Stiff, a parishioner at St. Margaret Mary Parish in Naperville, has done extensive work using adult stem cells from umbilical-cord blood to successfully treat cancer. continue
Wesley Smith blogs about the influence of policy that reflects the sanctity of human life. President Bush’s stem cell policy, he says - and a point I think many of us believe is clearly true - expedited last month’s iPSC breakthroughs. Smith brings up Thomson’s reservations about using embryos and an interesting quote from Yamanaka expressing as much.
Here is where I think there is a bit too much optimism:
Yamanaka has said that some ES cells will continue to be needed for basic research. But that means the Bush approved lines should be up to the job.
Nope. As along as we have Thomson and Yamanaka calling for continued embryonic stem cell research, I think we can be certain that we will need more embryos.
Jill Stanek blogs on Mitt Romney’s interview with Katie Couric, when he admits the use of “surplus” ivf embryos, with consent from the “parents”, is acceptable. Even Katie Couric, hardly a proponent of any morally respectable position on embryonic stem cell research, could sniff out the inconsistency of Mitt’s . . . lack of commitment to an authentically pro-life position toward all embryos.
