cb.blog

Author: Chip Bennett

  • Never Give Up, Indeed

    Apparently, Lene Johansen doesn’t think that those who support banning human cloning should keep challenging the Stem Cell Initiative.

    No, we will never give up. It has something to do with the Initiative, through an intentionally deceptive attempt to re-define “cloning”, claiming that the Initiative bans human cloning, while in reality it constitutionally prohibits the legislature from banning human cloning.

    So, no; we won’t give up, until every Missourian knows the truth. Missourians have the right to make informed decisions about this issue.

  • Say What?

    Among other things in this article on the one-year anniversary of Massachussetts’ pro-embryonic stem cell (ESC) research legislation, I found this little gem [emphasis added]:

    After years of honing his skills in Massachusetts, the 34-year-old stem cell researcher received an offer from a privately endowed research center in Kansas City.

    There was only one hitch. In Missouri, Cowan said, he feared his type of research could land him behind bars. In contrast, he felt Massachusetts had put out a welcome mat.

    Talk about sensationalism! “Land him in jail”? Really? Considering that none of the research being conducted in Massachussetts is illegal in Missouri, that fear is rather spurious.

    Oh, and a side note: I would harbor a guess that the “privately endowed research center in Kansas City” mentioned in the article is none other than the Stowers Institute, founded by the same Jim and Virginia Stowers who are bank-rolling the Missouri Stem Cell Initiative.

    The article has more of the usual mis-information. After generally getting the facts straight for most of the article, we come to the following critical failure:

    At the heart of the stem cell debate is a procedure known both as somatic cell nuclear transfer or therapeutic cloning.

    The basic science involves taking an egg from a woman, removing the 23 chromosomes that would normally match up with 23 chromosomes from a sperm, and replacing them with a full 46 chromosome nucleus from any cell of an adult, essentially creating a single cell clone.

    The egg is then induced to begin reproducing until there is a ball of a few hundred stem cells that have the ability to transform themselves into any type of cell in the body. The goal is to use those cells to create cures or treatments for disease.

    Good information, up to “single cell clone” – but then the article gets it wrong. That “single cell clone” is no longer an egg, but a zygoe: a single-cell embryo. The embryo proceeds through mitosis (cell division) and into the various stages of embryonic development. At the stage in question – the blastocyst stage – the embryo is comprised of inner and outer cell masses. The outer cell mass will later become the placenta, and the inner mass (which contains the stem cells) progresses into the fetal stages of human development.

    In order to use those stem cells, the embryo must be destroyed. A “ball of cells” is not removed from the developing embryo; a developing human being is killed.

    The article’s conclusion falls under the category of “unintentional irony” [emphasis added]:

    Despite his enthusiasm, Zon tries to temper public expectations about the research.

    He said the short term goal — over the next five years or so — is to gain a greater understanding of human development and use tissue created through human embryonic stem cell research to experiment with potential treatments for diseases.

    The longer term goal — over the next 10 years — is to create new cells to actually replace defective parts.

    “We are just at the beginning,” he said.

    The only thing realistic here is the last sentence. Every indication is that any real progress with ESC research is, at a minimum, decades away. How giving the impression that meaningful results are 5-10 years away constitutes “tempering public opinion”, I can’t fathom.

  • I Don’t Want To Hear It

    Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) is attempting to use Embryonic Stem Cell (ESC) research as a wedge issue in his re-election campaign. In so doing, it isn’t surprising that he falls squarely in line with ESC proponents, by pandering to false-hope sensationalism and attempting to claim a moral/emotional high ground.

    I’ve covered this ground before, and will continue to do so:

    The Democrat senator told a panel of experts and advocates at Hackensack University Medical Center that the Republican majority leadership in the U.S. Senate has blocked a vote on his bill to allow funding for work on stem cell lines from new embryos.

    The panel, which included Rep. Steve Rothman, D-Fair Lawn, was the first of three campaign stops in North Jersey for Menendez, who replaced Jon Corzine in the Senate and is running for a full term. Other panelists included advocates for research in Parkinson’s disease, juvenile diabetes and blood cancers.

    I wonder if any of these “advocates” support the Adult Stem Cell (ASC) research that is actually producing meaningful, useful, and promising results in these areas?

    But it is the following pander by Menendez that irks me incredibly:

    Menendez said the stem cell debate is personal for him because his 85-year-old mother suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, one of many illnesses that future research might cure, he said.

    “It’s difficult to sit across from your mom and have her not know who you are,” he said.

    Note to Menendez: you don’t own the moral high ground on this issue. And I don’t want to hear it.

    I am sick of Alzheimer’s being used as the battle-standard of ESC proponents, and I am equally sick of ESC proponents claiming moral and compassionate superiority over their opponents because of Alzheimer’s. The ESC proponents are not the only ones ever to lose a loved one because of Alzheimer’s. I never truly knew my grandfather, because by the time I was old enough to have a relationship with him, he was already too mentally deteriorated from the amazing, sharp-witted, character-discerning, loving man my family knew him to be, due to the Alzheimer’s that eventually claimed his life when I was a freshman in high school.

    Further, it is very likely that I am genetically pre-disposed to Alzheimer’s – so I have even more of a vested interest in medical advances and research that will hopefully one day understand and cure this horrendous disease. But I will be damned (and I mean that quite literally) if I put the value of my own life before anyone else’s – and that includes cloned or frozen embryos.

    I would rather die than destroy another human life – especially when that life would be destroyed for the purpose of research that has produced no meaningful results whatsoever, while other research, having no ethical concerns whatsoever, continues to progress and bring real results and real hope and promise.

    Consistent with the Clone the Truth campaign, I am committed to ensuring that the truth about adult and embryonic stem cell and related research is made known.

  • OYB June 4

    Today´s reading:
    OT: II Samuel 22, II Samuel 23:1-23
    NT: Acts 2
    Ps: Psalm 122
    Pr: Proverbs 16:19-20

    Today´s notable verse:

    Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

    Acts 2:38 (NIV)

    The One Year Bible Blog‘s comments for today.

  • Thomas Aquinas on Embryoes

    The spin:

    St. Thomas Aquinas, the premier teacher in the Roman Catholic tradition, did not think the early fetus was a person – “ensouled,” in his language. St. Thomas believed the early life in the womb received a spiritual soul – and became a baby – only after three to four months. Thus, embryonic cells in a lab dish or frozen away are certainly not “ensouled.”

    The reality

    It is true that Aquinas did believe that the soul was not infused at the beginning of a pregnancy. This is because Aquinas followed Aristotle’s embryology (circa 300 B.C.) and believed that an embryo was not formed enough to receive a soul until well into its development. However, 21st century embryology provides clear evidence that everything the soul needs is present from the first moment of every human being’s existence – as numerous Catholic scholars have explained. Aquinas would undoubtedly accept this evidence and agree with the Church’s current teaching.

    Further, St. Thomas also believed the intentional ending of a pregnancy at any stage was a sin – regardless of when the soul was present. Thus, he remains firmly within the tradition of the Church in respecting human life at all stages.

    More parsing of the original op-ed, later.

    Via John Combest.

  • Car/Phone Theft Update

    They caught her.

  • OYB June 3

    Today´s reading:
    OT: II Samuel 20:14-26, II Samuel 21
    NT: Acts 1
    Ps: Psalm 121
    Pr: Proverbs 16:18

    Today´s notable verse:

    The LORD will keep you from all harm — he will watch over your life

    Psalm 121:7 (NIV)

    The One Year Bible Blog asks:

    Comments from you & Question of the Day – What are some ways you have dealt with pride in your life in the past? Have you been able to overcome issues of judging others? Thinking you are all that? How did you overcome these pride issues?

    [Note: the question of the day is in response to today’s Proverbs 16:18 passage: “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.“]

    To combat an issue like pride and being judgemental, we must remember first that God gave us the capacity and the responsibility to control our thoughts:

    We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

    II Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)

    Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

    Romans 12:2 (NIV)

    Second, we must remember that our thoughts are to be obedient to Christ, and are to reflect His Lordship in our lives and our expression of His love. This reflection demands humility:

    For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

    Romans 12:3 (NIV)

    Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

    Philippians 2:3 (NIV)

    Finally, we must realize that what we say is the natural progression of our thoughts and our attitudes:

    The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

    Luke 6:45 (NIV)

    Ultimately, we must remember that we are called first and foremost to deal with the glaring sin in our own lives before we could ever hope to address someone else’s sin. I have enough to handle with this plank in my own eye; why would I concern myself with the speck of dust in my brother’s eye?

  • OYB June 2

    Today´s reading:
    OT: II Samuel 19:11-43, II Samuel 20:1-13
    NT: John 21
    Ps: Psalm 120
    Pr: Proverbs 16:16-17

    Today´s notable verse:

    How much better to get wisdom than gold, to choose understanding rather than silver!

    Proverbs 16:16 (NIV)

    The One Year Bible Blog‘s comments for today.

  • Gene silencing directs muscle-derived stem cells to become bone-forming cells

    More Adult Stem Cell (ASC) advances you won’t hear about in the MSM:

    Using a relatively new technology called RNA interference to turn off genes that regulate cell differentiation, University of Pittsburgh researchers have demonstrated they can increase the propensity of muscle-derived stem cells (MDSCs) to become bone-forming cells.

    Why is this development important, you ask?

    Cells can be divided into three primary classifications: endodermal (interior stomach lining, gastrointestinal tract, the lungs), mesodermal (muscle, bone, blood, urogenital), and ectodermal (epidermal tissues and nervous system). Bone and muscle cells are mesodermal tissue. For quite a while now, ASCs have demonstrated multipotency; this development brings the possibility of ASC pluripotency closer to reality.

    Of course, if ASCs can be coaxed into pluripotency, the necessity for embryonic stem cells evaporates.

    The practical result of the research:

    Based on these results, the investigators believe that by turning off specific genetic factors they can control the capacity of MDSCs as a means of treating various musculoskeletal diseases and injuries.

    And, the future benefit [emphasis added]:

    “By understanding the genetic mechanisms that regulate a cell’s propensity to differentiate into one type of cell line over another, we may be able to regulate their ability to generate bone for the treatment of various diseases and injuries of the musculoskeletal system, such as osteoporosis or severe fractures,” said first author Jonathan B. Pollett, Ph.D., research associate, department of orthopaedic surgery, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.

    This isn’t pie-in-the-sky hope; this is real promise.

  • Saint Louis Songwriters’ Showcase

    Tonight I’m at the Crave Coffeehouse, just off of the SLU campus, for the Saint Louis Songwriters’ group songwriters’ showcase. Neat venue for a coffeehouse:

    crave coffeehouse
    Photo © Crave Coffeehouse

    crave coffeehouse
    Photo © Crave Coffeehouse

    My friend Christina is one of the songwriters performing tonight.