This eve of Thanksgiving here in the US brings some great prolife news. Scientist at two different laboratories have succeeded in reprogramming human skin cells to mimic stem cells. This is a major breakthrough which promises to provide a plentiful and morally acceptable source of stem cells for research into and treatment of various diseases. Of course further study will be required, but this is most definitely a promising sign.
In addition to solving the moral dilemma involved in creating and destroying human embryos for the purpose of obtaining stem cells it has the added advantage of significantly reducing the threat of rejection as the new cells are genetically identical to the patients' cells. If it pans out it looks like a win-win situation for all involved. (I am counting on Mike to offer some expert commentary on this one!)
The International Herald Tribune ran an interesting article today about the political impact of this scientific breakthrough.
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3 comments:
Good post, Father!
This is a major breakthrough. I hope and pray.
Thanks!
I thought the same thing when I heard the news the other day. I know a child who will soon be traveling to Russia for stem cell therapy, but they're going to use stem cells from his own body. This child was accidentally left in a parked car in New Orleans in August of 2006 for about 3 hours. He was in intensive care for weeks, and now he has some kind of developmental delay. He turned 2 in October.
He is one of 3 Katrina Kousins whose grandparents evacuated to our house for 3 weeks after the hurricane. My wife, my sister, and my cousin (his grandmother) were all expectant grandmothers for the first time, and they talked "baby" nonstop. Aidan's (the child) father in an engineer with the Army Corps of Engineers in N.O., and it was the peak of hurricane season. He got an emergency call on his cell phone as he was pulling into the parking lot (they have a day care center for employees' children), and he forgot about Aidan (who was asleep in his car seat in the back seat of the car). This has been a great tragedy for our family, and I ask that you pray the stem cell therapy will do some good. Thanks.
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