|A Publication of the Republican National Coalition for Life||September/October 2003 - No. 50|
Healing the Human Heart |
Medical Advances Using Adult Stem Cells Show Great Promise
By Daniel P. Coyne
Evidence continues to mount that medical techniques using adult stem cells show greater promise in treating diseases than techniques using stem cells extracted from destroyed human embryos.
Researchers at a recent meeting of the European Society of Cardiology in Vienna report success in their experimental adult stem cell treatments of heart disease patients. The scientists injected adult stem cells that had been extracted from the patients' own bone marrow into the patients' hearts. The stem cells then helped to regenerate damaged heart tissue.
One of the physicians involved in the research stated that four of his five patients "had such a marked improvement in blood supply after stem cell treatment that they were removed from the list of those needing a heart transplant."Another scientist claimed that "This is the first approach where you have an opportunity to actually heal a heart."
A study just published in Nature Medicine provides additional confirmation that adult bone marrow stem cells can work wonders on damaged or diseased hearts. The researchers utilized stem cells from the bone marrow of rats and genetically modified the cells to survive longer than usual. They injected the cells into the hearts of rats that had heart attacks and found that the adult bone marrow stem cells restored eighty to ninety percent of the hearts' volume, and completely normalized the contracting functions of the heart.
After the fetal cells were injected into the brains of patients with Parkinson's disease, fiftysix percent of the patients developed unanticipated dyskinesia, a condition involving potentiallydisabling repetitive movements. In three of the patients, the dyskinesia was "disabling, necessitating a surgical intervention when the study was completed." The authors of the study concluded that they could not recommend fetal brain cell transplantation as a therapy for Parkinson's disease at this time, though they called for continued experimentation using cells derived from aborted fetuses.
These results mirror the results of a March 2001 study from the New England Journal of Medicine. In that study, cells from human embryos and fetuses were injected into the brains of Parkinson's patients. A number of the patients later experienced severe uncontrollable movements, like jerking of their heads and swinging or writhing of their arms.
As competition continues over limited research grants, such reports of experimental failure or success could prove decisive in funding decisions.
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The PreNatal Protection Act recognizes the unborn baby as a human being under the law, and that is a very good thing.
Carole Griffin, president of the Capital Chapter of Florida Eagle Forum, comments in the July edition of her newsletter: "Everyone can talk about parental responsibility and yet here we have the court driving a wedge between parent and child. Other than in a life saving medical procedure emergency, there is no other medical surgical procedure that a minor can receive except an abortion without parental permission. Of course, if there is a complication to the abortion, then her privacy is no longer valid and the parents are handed the medical bill or the dead body of their daughter." [Emphasis added]
While the Lawrence chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW) called the opinion an attack on abortion providers, Kansans for Life, the state's largest prolife group said, "Obviously, any organization or any individual who harbors pedophiles and conceals the sexual abuse of children, deserves to be prosecuted."
Last year, 88 of the 11,844 abortions reported in Kansas, or 0.8 percent, were performed on girls 14 or younger, according to the Department of Health and Environment. Mr. Kline said that a girl under 16 who is pregnant is either a victim of rape, indecent liberties with a child, or unlawful voluntary sexual relations, all felonies.
The Republican National Platform has historically stated the support of the Republican Party for the "traditional definition of marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman." It further states that "federal judges and bureaucrats should not force states to recognize other living arrangements as marriages." In addition, the Platform says, "we support the First Amendment right of freedom of association and stand united with private organizations, such as the Boy Scouts of America, and support their positions."
Sexual orientation is definitely NOT a "nonissue" among Republicans. Profamily groups are gearing up for what may turn out to be some very contentious Platform Committee hearings in New York.
Added to that, a report by Jennifer Harper in the Washington Times (9/3/03), says, "the motley Manhattan population of liberals, feminists, performance artists, environmentalists and selfstyled anarchists who oppose the Bush administration for one reason or another are already in full cry. Plans to disrupt the convention are in motion a year in advance."
RNC/Life will be there once again to fight for the prolife principles held by the Republican Party since 1976, when the first convention postRoe v. Wade adopted a platform plank endorsing "the efforts of those who seek enactment of a constitutional amendment to restore protection of the right to life for unborn children."
Because we know that family life based on JudeoChristian tradition must remain the foundation of public policy and law in America, we will link arms with other prolife, profamily groups and individuals to ensure that the Republican National Platform remains the standardbearer for respect for life and for marriage as the bedrock institution of our society.
We need your help and financial support to carry out our mission. The 2004 Republican National Convention is less than a year away. Please remember RNC/Life as you consider recipients of your charitable giving.
Mr. Smith relates that Governor Dean, himself a physician, had this to say when asked by a reporter for Oregon Public Broadcasting, "In general where do you stand on physicianassisted suicide and Oregon's vote on that issue?" :
"I think states have to make up their own mind. It's a very difficult moral problem. I as a physician would not be comfortable administering lethal drugs, but I think this is a very private, personal decision and I think individual physicians and patients have the right to make that private decision. I am very amused by the Right Wing including the president and administration who talk about liberty but then decide they're going to scrutinize everyone's behavior and tell them what they can and cannot do. There can't be a much more personal decision an individual makes than how to die and I think that is a personal decision left to individuals, their physicians and families."
Mr. Smith further points out that Dean not only agrees with assisted suicide but appears to support doctors being allowed to personally administer lethal drugs (i.e. active euthanasia) an act that even the radical Oregon assistedsuicide law currently prohibits.
What a scary thought that a man who is proabortion and proeuthanasia is considered a serious contender for the presidency of the United States!
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