Stem cell research has been all over the news. Active debates over the viability of embryonic stem cell lines - accompanied by amazing predictions of future benefits - and the ethics of using "discarded" or "disabled" fetal tissue have dominated the airwaves.
On one side of the issue are those who don't understand how anyone could disagree with the use of unviable fetal tissue. They just can't fathom why there would be resistance to enabling Superman to walk again. And on the other side are those standing so close to the discussions opposing the devastating and abhorrent practice of abortion that the real topic of discussion is lost.
Both groups have a blind spot. The curious thing about blind spots is that you can't see them. Let's look at this from a sports perspective. It's the first half. And the score? Read the board.
Fetal Stem Cells 0 - Adult Stem Cells 1000s
It doesn't even sound like a game worth watching, does it?
No Not One
With all the promising talk about the future of fetal stem cell research, there is little, in reality, to cheer about. To date, there has not been a single benefit to any human.
Because everyone, on both sides of the issue, is in awe of the amazing development of those first few cells after conception, the implications of being able to control the process has boggled many minds. This has led to many empty promises. When the many laboratory failures come into the full light of scrutiny, one is left with little immediate hope. Persistent mutations have "dogged" most of the results. But we are told to be patient with these consistent failures, give more money and not complain when the voting public is misled because they will make it so we can live forever. (You do know that curing disease is the first hurdle, but immortality is the next, don't you? There is already intense interest - and investment money - in cloning duplicates for spare body parts.)
So what is the side of this discussion that both sides, amazingly, are not talking about?
There Is an Alternative
It is one that has a long track record of success that no one can argue about. It is totally non-violent and ethical. The list of successes total in the thousands—so many that there are no arguments over statistics.
There is another, somewhat misleading, classification called Adult Stem Cells or, more accurately, post-birth stem cells. They are taken from umbilical cord blood, bone marrow or extracted from fat cells. Most often these stem cells are taken from the patients’ own body. This insures against rejection, which is half the risk. Even donated cells properly matched don’t have the associated mutation issues.
But in the midst of the current debate over stem cell research, we find that the adult stem cell discussion is mysteriously absent. Why is that?
And The Lame Shall Walk
The successes are, in a word, amazing:
- In Germany, a paraplegic South Korean woman was treated with stem cells from umbilical cord blood. At a news conference in Seoul on November 25, 2004, she walked (with the help of a walker). Only a little impressed? She had been paralyzed for 20 years!
- Over two years ago a young girl in Germany fell and destroyed over 19 square inches of her skull. After several other procedures were attempted, all of which failed, a "paste" of extracted pelvic bone and her fat cells was mixed together and administered. On December 20, 2004 a press conference was held to report that the skull bone, although thin, had re-grown. The girl, after having worn a helmet for some two years, formally took it off.
- At The Heart Institute in Houston, Texas, four out of a group of five severely sick Brazilian heart patients were taken off the heart transplant list. Doctors harvested some of the patients' own bone marrow and injected it into their hearts. The patients had such an increase in blood supply after the procedure that, in October of 2003, they were no longer in need of a transplant. The four were part of a larger group of 14 that were reported to have improved heart function.
- Researchers in Texas say they have developed a method of delivering cancer - fighting Interferon Beta through the use of stem cells taken from bone marrow. Because stem cells have a "duty" to aid growth they are attracted to tumors. Once the stem cells have been "manipulated" with the Interferon Beta gene they become targeted "missiles" aimed at the cancerous tumor, leaving healthy cells untouched. This is still in the animal research stage but should get approval for human testing this year. Since the patient's own cells are used, with proper screening there is little danger.
These are only a few of the "miraculous" strides that are occurring with the use of adult stem cells. Others include degenerative blindness, diabetes, muscular dystrophy, Parkinson's disease and leukemia. While time and energy (and much money) is being spent on fetal stem cell research, which has only a hope of some future benefit, the field of adult stem cell research is having an affect today on real people.
This lack of practical success is the weak spot of the fetal stem cell debate. With such successes in adult stem cell applications, the majority of research monies should be going to furthering these programs. It makes no sense to not fully support the therapies that are having such dramatic effects on real patients.
The debate on stem cell research shouldn't be over the ethics of using fetal stem cells but on whether they are even necessary to solving our medical needs. If we are truly attempting to do away with paralysis, genetic disease, and systemic deficiencies, adult stem cell therapy appears to be the answer. If we are looking for something more far-reaching, such as immortality, then we have much more grave concerns and issues to discuss.
