The Difference Between Adult and Embryonic Stem Cells

What is the difference between adult and embryonic stem cells? Adult stem cell research does not take human life and has led so some 72 successful treatments. Embryonic stem cell research takes life and has led to no cures or treatments.

Sacrificing the Unborn to the Idols of Our Age

You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD
Leviticus 18:21 (ESV)

The Canadian scientific community has discovered in recent days, the ability to create non-embryonic, stems cells from human tissue. This has created a set of stem cells that are less likely to be rejected, since they come from the individuals own shin, and do not destroy human life (embryos) in the process.

In a drive to achieve personal improvement at any cost, the Karios Journal outlined the medical position:

In June 2003, the American Medical Association declared its approval of human cloning for research purposes. The association also issued guidelines for doctors who wished to harvest stem cells from cloned embryos for their own research.1 Thus, the USA’s largest professional organization for physicians has publicly supported creating human life, in order to destroy it, in the hope of medical advances.

Reflecting on the Biblical parallel:

Preparing Israel for life in the Promised Land, the Lord warned His people not to be like the nations they would replace in Canaan. God had separated them from other nations to belong to Himself (Lev. 20:22-26). One of the Canaanite practices that He forbade was serving the false god Molech. The precise identity of this idol is uncertain. However, Molech worship clearly involved child sacrifice. Children were offered to him; literally, “caused to pass through” to him. This is further explained in 2 Kings 23:10, which says that they were “caused to pass through the fire.” The children were burned as an offering to seek Molech’s favor.

The mention of children (literally “seed”) recalls God’s covenant with Abraham, where the Lord promised to be with Abraham and his seed (Gen. 17:7). If Israel sacrificed their children to Molech, they would be rebelling against God’s promise of blessing for their offspring. Worse, they would be killing the children to seek blessing from an idol. Hence, they would deny God’s fidelity and power to bless, and so profane His name among the nations. But the Lord would not tolerate His covenant being despised and His reputation being defamed (Lev. 20:2).

Modern North America has engaged in the basic form of idolatry, in worshiping the god of self-gratification:

Health and longevity are among the most prominent modern idols. For many, gyms have become modern shrines and diet guides their Bibles. Medical advances offer the hope of lasting life, whilst surgery provides redemption from past illness. None of these things is inherently bad. Health, long life, and medical progress can be signs of God’s blessing. Nevertheless, they easily become all-consuming, replacing the Christian hope of eternal life after death with the materialist hope of prolonged life and blessing in this world only. Killing other human beings—even the tiniest members of our species—to restore personal health or add years to life is a heinous perversion of medicine and an evidence of technological idolatry. It should seem shocking that a nation’s doctors appear willing to create human babies and then destroy them.

This should impact which medical procedures you consider:

Church members may have to refuse some medical treatments because they are morally tainted. But Christians must remain resolute in modeling the fact that the Church is not like the nations around. Any scientific innovation that requires the willful destruction of human lives is Molech-like. Pagans deities must be refused, even if they appear in temples called laboratories and have priests called doctors. The Lord alone is the God of the covenant.

Stem Cell Breakthrough

From http://theologica.blogspot.com

It's being hailed as "an extraordinary scientific discovery" and likely "the most important development in stem cell science since the first derivation of human embryonic stem cells in 1998."

More info and response here.

Wesley Smith: ". . . we now have the very real potential of developing thriving and robust stem-cell medicine and scientific research sectors that will bridge, rather than exacerbate, our moral differences over the importance and meaning of human life."

Major Breakthrough in Stem Cell Biology

"In a surprising advance that could sidestep the ethical debates surrounding stem cell biology, researchers have come much closer to a major goal of regenerative medicine, the conversion of a patient’s cells into specialized tissues that might replace those lost to disease."

More:

“From the point of view of moving biomedicine and regenerative medicine faster, this is about as big a deal as you could imagine,” said Irving Weissman, a leading stem cell biologist at Stanford University, who was not involved in the new research.

David Scadden, a stem cell biologist at the Harvard Medical School, said the finding that cells could be reprogrammed with simple biochemical techniques “is truly extraordinary and frankly something most assumed would take a decade to work out.”

The technique seems likely to be welcomed by many who have opposed human embryonic stem cell research. It “raises no serious moral problem, because it creates embryoniclike stem cells without creating, harming or destroying human lives at any stage,” said Richard Doerflinger, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ spokesman on stem cell issues. In themselves, embryonic stem cells “have no moral status,” and the bishops’ objections to embryonic stem cell research rest solely on the fact that human embryos must be harmed or destroyed to obtain them, Mr. Doerflinger said.

Stem cell breakthrough that could end the storm

Researchers have found that amniotic fluid provides an abundant supply of stem cells, meaning that killing human embryos to get them is not necessary.
--------------------------------------------------------

By FIONA MACRAE: Daily Mail Press

A major breakthrough in stem cell science could quell the controversy surrounding the cutting-edge medical research, it was revealed.

Scientists have shown for the first time that amniotic fluid is a rich source of stem cells, suggesting the powerful cells can be ethically harvested.

Stem cells are hugely important in the hunt for new treatments for conditions such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis, heart disease and strokes.

Blank cells, capable of turning into different types of tissue, they are seen as a repair kit, with the potential to regenerate damaged parts of the body.

Embryonic stem cells - plucked from an embryo in the first days of life - are more versatile than those gleaned from adults as they are capable of turning into virtually any form of cell.

However, research on embryonic stem cells is mired in controversy, as extraction of the cells lead to the death of the embryo - and protests that human life, even in its earliest stages, is being sacrificed in the interests of medical research.

Now, US researchers have shown that amniotic fluid could provide an alternative - and more ethically acceptable - source of stem cells.

They found that human stem cells, shed by the unborn baby into the surrounding amniotic fluid, can be coaxed into turning into muscle, bone, fat, blood vessel, nerve and liver cells in the lab.

When the nerve cells were transplanted into mice with a degenerative brain disease, they grew and repopulated the diseased areas.

Bone and liver cells also functioned well, the journal Nature Biotechnology reports.

In addition to being easily obtainable, the cells can be grown quickly in large quantities.

Although stem cells have been extracted from amniotic fluid before, this is the first time they have been shown to have such broad potential.

Researcher Professor Anthony Atala, of Wake Forest University in North Carolina, said: 'These cells are capable of extensive self-renewal, a defining property of stem cells.

'They can also be used to produce a broad range of cells that may be valuable for therapy.

'Our hope is that these cells will provide a valuable resource for tissue repair and for engineered organs as well.'

The scientists also showed that the same cells are found in the placenta. However, stem cells taken from the umbilical cord are much harder to grow and so not so useful.

The amniotic fluid - which would otherwise have been discarded - was taken from pregnant women for amniocentesis, a test commonly used to detect Down's Syndrome and other genetic conditions in the unborn baby.

In the future, the cells could be collected after amniocentesis tests or from the placenta when it is expelled after the birth of the baby.

They could then be banked until needed later in life either by the individual or by others.

Prof Atala said: 'In the future, banking of these stem cells may provide a convenient source for both therapy in later life and for matching of donor cells with recipients.'

Professor Malcolm Alison, a stem cell expert from the University of London, said the researchers had found a new, ethically-acceptable source of stem cells that are at least as versatile as the much-feted embryonic stem cells.

'It is a readily available source and an attractive source that would otherwise be thrown away,' said Prof Alison. 'They appear to be at least as malleable as embryonic stem cells but without all the ethical baggage.'

Reproductive ethics campaigner Josephine Quintavalle said:'The extras of childbirth have wonderful life-giving potential,' she said.

'We need to outline to the public that these cells can be obtained ethically, without any sacrifice of embryos.'

Paul Tully, of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said it was wrong to invest so much time and hope in embryonic stem cell research,' he said.

'It is entirely unreasonable to suggest that the only possible treatment offers hope to someone with Parkinson's disease, motor neurone disease or other conditions,' he said.

'There are many avenues of stem cell research apart from embryonic stem cells which are proving very exciting and have great possibilities.'

Jim Dobbin, chairman of the All-Party Party Pro-Life Group, said he would welcome the use of stem cells from the amniotic fluid, provided they could be extracted without harming the unborn baby.

However, other scientists cautioned that more work has to be done to establish the true potential of these stem cells.

Professor Stephen Minger, a stem cell expert from King's College London, said that while it would be useful to have other sources of stem cells, there would always be a place for embryonic stem cells in research.

'This isn't a way of saying we don't need embryonic stem cells,' he said. 'This is interesting work but it needs to be reproduced on a large scale.'

He added that it is unclear whether the cells would still be of use after being stored for a long period.

Stem cell research offers hope for treating and curing a host of conditions.

Powerful opponents of embryonic stem cell research include the Vatican and George Bush.

President Bush, who has banned government funding of stem cell research in the US, is said to view the use of embryonic stem cells as 'murder'.

Vetoing funding, he said: 'It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect.'

However, the work has also attracted much praise with actor Michael J Fox, who suffers from Parkinson's disease campaigning for politicians who support research on human embryos.

And, in the last few days of his life, Superman actor Christopher Reeve recorded an advert which stated stem cells were 'the future of medicine'.

Last month, it emerged that London doctors are about to start injecting heart attack patients with stem cells in bid to repair damaged muscle damaged during the attack.

Also in recent weeks, British scientists have revealed they have grown a mini-liver - a tiny bundle of liver cells - from stem cells and used stem cells to restore the sight in blind mice.

Last week, UK researchers warned that stem cell research aimed at finding cures for a range of crippling diseases could be jeopardised because of government plans to outlaw the creation of stem cell-rich part human, part animal 'chimera' embryos.