Saying No to the Culture of Death

The California based company StemLifeLine has announced a plan to store stem cells from spare IVF embryos. However, this plan has angered UK scientists. The theory is that cells banked from one embryo could provide treatment for a sibling threatened by serious disease in the future.

Lord Robert Winston has hit out at the scheme stating that it is preying on parent's fears about the future of their children.

Stem cells are the master cells that are capable of growing into a wide variety of different tissues, and scientists believe that one day these stem cells can be harnessed to fight such diseases as Parkinson's Disease and Alzheimer's Disease. To date, there has not been any successful treatment developed from embryonic stems cells.

Whilst the Californian company claims that one day these cells "might be useful", Lord Winston has hit back stating that:

"There is no scientific evidence to sustain the notion that this will be a useful procedure. I would be horrified if anyone tried to do this in Britain."

Professor Stephen Minger, from Kings College, London, also spoke against the purpose of this company with the following comment:

"My worry is that this is a commercial service that is being promoted to companies when the sceince is not really there to justify it.

It is like trying to run before you can walk, and the fact it is being done for commercial purposes makes it worse."

The Australian Senators have once again acted in an irresponsible manner. The Australian Democrat Senator, Natasha Stott-Despoja, wants to be remembered after her retirement from politics. She sees the passage of an amendment that would allow cloning of embryonic stem cells as her way of being remembered. I suggest that she will be remembered in the form of infamy and not as one who has done something good.

The argument that was put forward to end the moratorium on this form of research has no real merit. The basis of the argument has been "do you want us to be left behind" in embryonic stem cell research. This is in part what Natasha Stott-Despoja stated in the Senate when she got up and addressed the issue. Her whole argument was lacking because she clearly showed that she had not fully researched the subject. Instead of doing her own personal research, she has relied upon the emotive reasoning of the embryonic stem cell research industry, that they can deliver the goods. She has failed to check out the real facts.

Embryonic Stem Cell research has been a colossal failure. However, people such as Stott-Despoja and Bob Carr have continued with the fantasy that this is the way forward. They are the ones who have failed to recognize that real success in stem cell research has come from the use of adult stem cells, as well as from the umbilical cords that have been stored so that the stem cells can be harvested. The stem cells that come from umbilical cord are a far better quality than that of embryonic stem cells. Also, to date, with the lack of success of the embryonic stem cell  research is the information that the animals that have been used in experiments have developed cancerous tumors. Is this what Natasha Stott-Despoja wants for people who are suffering from Parkinson's Disease?

My mother was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, almost 3 years ago. She does not believe in the use of embryonic stem cells to research this disease. We know that in Parkinson's Disease there is a drop in the level of dopamine in the brain. There is nothing in the ancestral information that has been collected to show a genetic link for this disease. I doubt that there will ever be an answer to how people end up with Parkinson's Disease through embryonic stem cell research. I doubt that a cure will be found via embryonic stem cell research.

The people in favour of this form of research, as well as cloning, have also failed to address the issue of the harvesting of women's ova in order to carry out the research. They have failed to address the possibility that the harvesting of eggs could lead to the further exploitation of poorer women. They have also failed to address the very real issue of the possibility of doing harm to these same women.

I do not believe that an argument that is based upon keeping up with the Jonses is a sound one, yet this is how Natasha Stott-Despoja argued her case in favour of overturning the moratorium on cloning. I do not believe that this woman has a sound grasp on all of the issues that are involved. I believe that as a member of the parliament she has been totally ineffective, and she has done more to harm women than what is for their own good. He inability to do thorough research has shown how she is not a worthy member of the parliament.

Rather than liberalizing the research, the Australian Parliament should be setting out the guidelines and the limits beyond which it is unacceptable to do such research. However, the Senate played the religion card, and once again we see anti-Catholicism coming into play. This is a very bad outcome for Australia and I hope that my taxes will not be wasted on embryonic stem cell research.

The President of the United States recently used his right to veto to stop what must be one of the most vile of the scientific advances in our own time - cloning associated with embryonic stem cell research. For years we have heard the Hollywood stars such as Michael J. Fox (who has Parkinson's Disease) lending their weight to the clamour to allow this form of research, and using what is designated discarded frozen embryos. The whole idea of IVF that uses frozen embryos is somewhat abhorrent to anyone who has any regard for the right to life.

One of the arguments that is being used to claim that embryonic stem cell research and cloning is ok happens to be that the definition of life is when the fertilized ova reaches the womb. Think again - that life began when the egg was fertilized because from that moment onwards the cells that have been fused together have already begun to divide, and all of the genetics of the life that has been created are already in place. The embryo cannot be sustained if it is not raised in the womb, but that does not mean that it is nothing until it is planted into the womb.

The men and women who are promoting this form of research are doing the rest of us no favours at all. Take for example the opinions of the former Premier of NSW, Mr. Bob Carr. He uses a lot of emotive arguments about children with diabetes needing the research, and about a scientist of his acquaintance who has motor neurone disease. No one denies that these diseases are devastating. When motor neurone disease strikes a child, it is very devastating, and yet the child still has a quality of life. The notion that the answers will only come from embryonic stem cell research is in fact nonsensical, and yet this is the argument that Bob Carr has been pushing.

The public are not being made aware of the advances that have been made through the use of adult stem cells. The adult stem cell research projects are far closer to finding the answers to many of the diseases, whereas embryonic stem cell research is not even scratching the surface when it comes to finding a cure for such things as Parkinson's Disease or Diabetes Type 1, and a host of other diseases.

Parkinson's Disease is rather devastating, and as one who has a mother with Parkinson's Disease, I am interested in ensuring that her comfort is maintained. The research that has been done so far has already provided some answers to the causes of this particular condition. The people who have this disease have a problem that concerns a lack of chemical balance in their brains, and the medication that they are prescribed is useful in keeping the disease under control. The level of Dopamine in the brain, and how the body is making and absorbing Dopamine is critical for the future of people with Parkinson's Disease. We do not need embryonic stem cell research to find the answers as to what went wrong.

Likewise, Diabetes Types I and II is a condition that is caused by an hormonal imbalance. In the case of Diabetes, the hormone affected is that of insulin. It is the working of the pancreas that is critical in any research that is being done to combat diabetes. We need further research in how our endocrine systems work, not embryonic stem cell research that has not, so far, generated anything positive - except for the growth of tumors.

The work of the disgraced Hwang in South Korea should have served as a warning that there is either little or no progress in cloning techniques. Yet, that has not stopped Bob Carr proposing that funding should be allowed for projects that have little regard for the potential lives that are being created. Bob Carr is very good with the emotive speeches, but he is light on when it comes to presenting the real facts about a given situation. He did not make a good case for embryonic stem cell research or for cloning research. People such as Bob Carr fail to acknowledge the work that is being done with adult stem cells. They prefer to hide the advances that are being made with such research. They want to continue with the excuse that embryonic stem cell research is viable, because they cannot accept their own failures.

Chris from Catholics in the Public Square has an interesting article on stem cell research

The focus of the article is that there is a concentration of funding for embryonic stem cell research which is at best not giving the results that are being published in related to stem cell research.

The destruction of embryonic stem cells for the purpose of research is a participation in the Culture of Death. I am opposed to the use of frozen embryos in this way. There needs to be more research on the funding of stem cell research in general, and certainly funding should be given to the research that is getting the results.