Scientists: Embryonic Stem Cell Research Promises Sometimes Oversold

Pope Tells Catholics to Oppose Human Cloning, Embryonic Stem Cell Research
http://www.lifenews.com/nat746.html
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 23, 2004

The Vatican (LifeNews.com) -- Pope John Paul II told Catholics
around the world to ensure that the progress of science doesn't
trump ethical considerations when it comes to issues such as stem
cell research and human cloning.

The Pope said that scientists who engage in human cloning have an
"arrogant belief that their project is better than the Creator's
design." He said researchers should no manipulate human beings
for their own purposes.

In a statement released on Sunday, the pontiff said those who
defend practices such as human cloning differ from Biblical
principles.

"The results achieved in various fields of science and technology
are considered and defended by many as a priori acceptable," the
Pope said in a statement released on Sunday. "In this way, one
ends up expecting that what is technically possible is in itself
also ethically good."

"The way taught by Christ is different: respect for human
beings," the Pope continued.

The Pope warned that some people perceive "truth and justice as
something modeled around the work of man himself."

Instead of relying on embryonic stem cell research, where unborn
children are killed days after their creation to obtain their
stem cells, the Pope urged the scientific community to pursue
medical advances, such as the use of adult stem cells, that
recognize the dignity of human life.

The Pope's comments come just weeks after British officials gave
university researchers the go-ahead to clone unborn children with
the express purpose of killing them for their stem cells.

This is not the first time Pope John Paul II has advocating
opposing human cloning or taken a stand to promote the value of
human life.

Last week, the Pope spoke to more than 300,000 people at a mass
in France.

"I appeal urgently to all of you, dear brothers and sisters, to
do everything in your power to ensure that life, each and every
life, will be respected from conception to its natural end," the
Pope said. "Life is a sacred gift, and no one can presume to be
its master."

Expanding on the Catholic Church's pro-life policies on assisted
suicide and euthanasia, the Pope in March said that removing the
feeding tube of a disabled patient is immoral and amounts to
"euthanasia by omission."

Pope John Paul II also said that the lexicon used to describe
such patients -- as being in a "vegetative state" was degrading
and inhuman.

Pope's Speech Tackles Abortion, Euthanasia, Embryonic Stem Cell Research
http://www.lifenews.com/nat725.html
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 16, 2004

Lourdes, France (LifeNews.com) -- Despite his failing health and
suffering from complications of Parkinson's disease, Pope John
Paul II spoke to more than 300,000 people over the weekend at a
Mass in France. He told them to continue to oppose practices such
as abortion, euthanasia and embryonic stem cell research that
destroy human life.

"I appeal urgently to all of you, dear brothers and sisters, to
do everything in your power to ensure that life, each and every
life, will be respected from conception to its natural end," the
Pope said. Life is a sacred gift, and no one can presume to be
its master."

The Pope has repeatedly spoken out against abortion and
euthanasia, but his comments also applied to human cloning and
embryonic stem cell research.

They were delivered just days after British officials gave
university researchers the go-ahead to clone unborn children with
the express purpose of killing them for their stem cells.

Expanding on the Catholic Church's pro-life policies on assisted
suicide and euthanasia, the Pope in March said that removing the
feeding tube of a disabled patient is immoral and amounts to
"euthanasia by omission."

Pope John Paul II also said that the lexicon used to describe
such patients -- as being in a "vegetative state" was degrading
and inhuman.

That's the kind of language that has been condemned by supporters
of Terri Schiavo and doctors who say she is not in a state of
PVS, but is disabled and able to breathe on her own without
artificial respiration.

"A man, even if seriously sick or prevented in the exercise of
its higher functions, is and will be always a man ... [he] will
never become a 'vegetable' or an 'animal,'" the Pope said. "The
intrinsic value and personal dignity of every human being does
not change depending on their circumstances."

Providing food and water to such patients should be a natural
thing to do and "morally obligatory," but not considered
extraordinary measures, the Pope added.

"In particular, I want to emphasize that the administration of
water and food . . . always represents a natural means of
preservation of life, not a medical treatment."




Poll: Americans Oppose Funding Embryonic Stem Cell Research, Human Cloning
http://www.lifenews.com/bio434.html
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 23, 2004


Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new poll shows that more
Americans oppose federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.
That puts them at odds with some lawmakers and the biotech lobby
which has been pressuring President Bush to overturn his policy
preventing taxpayer funding of any new embryonic research.

The survey, conducted by International Communications Research,
shows 47 percent of Americans oppose federal funding for
embryonic stem cell research while 43 percent support it.

That might make it seem as if Americans are divided on whether
they want their tax dollars to pay for research involving the
destruction of human embryos or research using adult stem cells.

However, when given a choice between funding all stem cell
research (embryonic and adult) or just adult stem cells,
Americans said they prefer funding adult stem cell research by a
61 to 23 percent margin.

The poll also shows that Americans overwhelmingly (80 to 13
percent) oppose the position taken by Democratic presidential
candidate John Kerry -- that human cloning should be allowed to
create human embryos only to be destroyed for their stem cells.

"Cloning embryos for their stem cells is the logical next step in
the embryonic stem cell research agenda," says Richard
Doerflinger, Deputy Director of the USCCB Secretariat for
Pro-Life Activities.

The findings stand in stark contrast to a recent Harris Poll
which found that 73 percent of respondents favor embryonic stem
cell research and only 11 percent opposing the grisly practice.

But pro-life advocates such as Doerflinger, criticized the Harris
Poll for leaving out key information form their question.

"Polls on embryonic stem cell research often fail to mention that
the research requires destroying human embryos," Doerflinger
said. "Yet this fact is essential to understanding the moral
issue."

Doerflinger said some polls, like the Harris Poll, "make
exaggerated claims about the (hypothetical) medical benefits of
embryonic cells" while ignoring the success of adult stem cell
research.

According to the poll, sponsored by the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops, opposition to funding embryonic stem cell
research is strongest among women, lower-income groups, senior
citizens and those who attend church regularly.

Americans also oppose the use of human cloning, 82 to 11 percent,
to provide children to infertile couples.

International Communications Research, a national research firm
headquartered in Media, Pennsylvania, conducted the poll. A
weighted sample of 1001 American adults was surveyed by telephone
August 13-17, 2004, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3
percent.

Second Poll: Americans Don't Want Tax-Funded Embryonic Stem Cell Research
http://www.lifenews.com/bio435.html
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 24, 2004

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A second national poll has
confirmed that a majority of Americans do not want their tax
dollars to be used to pay for embryonic stem cell research that
involves the destruction of days-old unborn children.

The poll, conducted by Wilson Research Strategies, shows 53
percent of respondents opposed "using tax dollars to pay for the
kind of stem cell research that requires the killing of human
embryos," while only 38 percent support it.

"When people understand that President Bush's position is to
oppose using tax dollars to pay for the kind of stem cell
research that requires the killing of human embryos, a majority
agree with him," said National Right to Life Associate Executive
Director Darla St. Martin

The new poll also confirmed that a strong majority of Americans
prefer their tax dollars to be used for alternative research
using adult stem cells. Such research is considered more ethical
and has proven more effective in clinical trials.

Some 74 percent of Americans said that they "support using tax
dollars to pay for the kind of stem cell research that does not
require the killing of human embryos," while only 20 percent
opposed it.

The Wilson poll also found that a strong majority of Americans
oppose the view taken by Democratic presidential nominee John
Kerry. They want both forms of human cloning -- for reproductive
and research purposes -- to be banned.

According to the poll, 69 percent of Americans want to ban all
human cloning while only 24 percent of respondents backed Kerry's
position saying that "cloning to create human embryos for stem
cell research which would kill them should be allowed and only
cloning for reproduction should be banned."

Kerry has co-sponsored a Senate bill calling for researchers to
be able to clone human embryos specifically for the purpose of
killing them for their stem cells.

Another poll released on Monday showed similar results.

Conducted by International Communications Research, it showed
more Americans don't want their tax dollars used to pay for
embryonic stem cell research, a strong majority support
tax-funded adult stem cell research and respondents strongly
opposed human cloning for both reproduction and research.

In August 2001, President Bush put forward a federal policy
prohibiting taxpayer funding of any new embryonic stem cell
research conducted after that point. The Bush administration has
spent $190 million on research using adult stem cells.

The Wilson Research Strategies survey was conducted August 16-18,
2004 and was taken among a sample of 1,000 adults nationwide and
has a +/- 3.1 percent margin of error.


  Scientists: Embryonic Stem Cell Research Promises Sometimes Oversold
http://www.lifenews.com/bio423.html
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 16, 2004

Salisbury Cove, ME (LifeNews.com) -- Some of the researchers
gathered for a symposium in Maine on the issue of embryonic stem
cell research are concerned that its promise is being oversold.
They want people, especially non-scientists, to refrain from
making claims that cures for diseases resulting from embryonic
stem cell research are just around the corner.

"While there are plenty of people who want to speak out on this
issue, they're not scientists," Dr. Leonard I. Zon, a professor
of pediatrics at Children's Hospital Boston said, according to a
report in the Bangor Daily News.

Dr. Louis M. Kunkel, director of the Children's Hospital's
genomics program reminded other researchers that cures from
embryonic stem cell research, if they come about, could be
decades away.

According to the News' report, Kunkel reminded his colleagues
about a major genetic breakthrough in muscular dystrophy research
in 1990. He remembers telling associates that the annual
telethon fundraiser would no longer be necessary.

"I can't believe I ever said that," said Kunkel. "We really can't
mislead the public about where these things are and what it's
going to take. It's going to take a long time."

Other researchers have argued that promised cures from the
destructive research may be a long time coming, if at all.

Dr. D.G. McKay, a stem cell researcher at the National Institute
for Neurological Diseases and Stroke, has called the promises of
miracle cures from embryonic stem cells a "fairy tale."

Meanwhile, in July, two leading researchers, including a Johns
Hopkins University scientist, said less controversial approaches
are more likely to find a cure or reduce the effects of
Alzheimer's in the coming years. Using embryonic stem cells may
not yield progress for decades, the researchers said.

No patients have yet shown any benefits as a result of the use of
embryonic stem cells.

Pro-life advocates argue that embryonic stem cell research has
not been as successful as research employing adult stem cells.
They oppose embryonic stem cell research because unborn children
in their earliest days must be destroyed to obtain the stem
cells.

Last week was the third anniversary of President Bush's August
2001 decision that prevented taxpayer funding of new embryonic
stem cell research. The Bush administration has vigorously funded
adult stem cell research to the tune of $190 million.

The Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory and The Jackson
Laboratory sponsored the symposium.

  Michael Reagan Will Address Republican Convention on Stem Cell Research
http://www.lifenews.com/bio420.html
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 12, 2004

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Another of President Ronald
Reagan's sons will have an opportunity to address a national
audience at a political convention. Republican officials have
confirmed that pro-life advocate Michael Reagan will speak at the
upcoming convention in New York later this month.

Last month, Ron Reagan told Democratic Party loyalists to "vote
for embryonic stem cell research" in a speech that touted the
unproven research.

After President Reagan passed away, advocates of embryonic stem
cell research piggybacked their message onto his death, saying
that such research could benefit others who suffer from diseases
such as Alzheimer's.

However, Michael Reagan, a board member of the Alzheimer's
Foundation, said his father would have opposed the research and
paying for it with taxpayer funds. He accused the media of making
it seem that wasn't the case.

"The media continues to report that the Reagan 'family' is in
favor of [embryonic] stem cell research, when the truth is that
two members of the family have been long time foes of this
process of manufacturing human beings -- my dad, Ronald Reagan
during his lifetime, and I," Michael Reagan wrote in an
editorial.

"Moreover, using the widely promoted and thoroughly discredited
argument that stem cell research can lead to a cure of
Alzheimer's disease, the media and proponents of stem cell
research have suggested that had the research been done a long
time ago, my dad might have avoided the ordeal he endured,"
Michael Reagan explained. "This is junk science at its worst."

Pro-life groups are delighted at the decision. Shortly after Ron
Reagan's speech, they had asked GOP officials to invite Michael
Reagan to the convention.

"Republicans need to invite President Reagan's other son,
Michael, to deliver a prime time address at their convention in
order to reiterate the truth about President Reagan -- that he
was unabashedly pro-life, believing that life begins at
conception," Family Research Council president Tony Perkins said
last month.

In an interview following Ron Reagan's speech, Michael said he
wasn't surprised his brother spoke at the Democratic convention.

Ron Reagan "really doesn't want George Bush re-elected, and this
became an issue that he could use for the Democrat convention,"
Michael told CBS News.

Michael Reagan says many scientists doubt that embryonic stem
cells can be used to cure a range of diseases. He cited Ronald
McKay, a stem cell researcher at the National Institute of
Neurological Disorders and Stroke, in his piece.

"People need a fairy tale," McKay recently told the Washington
Post.

McKay said those who are afflicted with or have family members
afflicted with various diseases need some sort of hope and
advocates of using embryonic stem cells have played on those
hopes to gain support for their research.

"Note to the media," Michael Reagan wrote in his editorial, "Next
time you write about the 'family,' remember both dad and me. It's
our family too."

Related web sites:
Michael Reagan's column -
http://www.caglecartoons.com/previewColumn.asp?columnID={0E2A1B9D-5591-4A24-940A-67C3FEDE1A6B :

Michael Reagan, June 21, 2004
I’m With My Dad on Stem Cell Research
Making Sense
By Michael Reagan

The media continues to report that the Reagan "family" is in favor of stem cell research, when the truth is that two members of the family have been long time foes of this process of manufacturing human beings – my dad, Ronald Reagan during his lifetime, and I.

The media should keep in mind that we are also members of the Reagan "family," and my father, as I do, opposed the creation of human embryos for the sole purpose of using their stem cells as possible medical cures.

Moreover, using the widely promoted and thoroughly discredited argument that stem cell research can lead to a cure of Alzheimer’s disease, the media and proponents of stem cell research have suggested that had the research been done a long time ago, my dad might have avoided the ordeal he endured. This is junk science at its worst.

As William Clark, dad’s national security advisor, interior secretary and one of my dad’s closest friends and aides wrote in a recent op-ed piece in the New York Times my father’s "suffering under Alzheimer's disease was tragic, and we should do everything we can that is ethically proper to help others afflicted with it. But I have no doubt that he would have urged our nation to look to adult stem cell research — which has yielded many clinical successes — and away from the destruction of developing human lives, which has yielded none."  And he warned, "Those who would trade on Ronald Reagan's legacy should first consider his own words."

Here’s what my father said way back in 1983: "My administration is dedicated to the preservation of America as a free land and there is no cause more important for preserving that freedom than affirming the transcendent right to life of all human beings, the right without which no other rights have any meaning."

To make matters worse, those arguing for embryonic stem cells have embarked on a campaign of disinformation, claiming that there are scientific reasons for believing that their research can be expected to lead to a cure for Alzheimer’s disease.

Listen to what Ronald D.G. McKay, a stem cell researcher at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke told the Washington Post: "People need a fairy tale," he said, explaining why scientists have allowed society to believe wrongly that stem cells are likely to effectively treat Alzheimer's disease. He added "Maybe that's unfair, but they need a story line that's relatively simple to understand."

A story line that is a flat out lie.

Writing in the Weekly Standard, lawyer, ethicist and human life advocate Wesley J. Smith reported that "Researchers have apparently known for some time that embryonic stem cells will not be an effective treatment for Alzheimer's, because as two researchers told a Senate subcommittee in May, it is a ‘whole brain disease,’ rather than a cellular disorder (such as Parkinson's). This has generally been kept out of the news. But now, Washington Post correspondent Rick Weiss, has blown the lid off of the scam, reporting that while useful abstract information might be gleaned about Alzheimer's through embryonic stem cell research, ‘stem cell experts confess . . . that of all the diseases that may be someday cured by embryonic stem cell treatments, Alzheimer's is among the least likely to benefit.’"

People such as Nancy, however, have been allowed to believe otherwise - "a distortion," Weiss writes that "is not being aggressively corrected by scientists." Why? The false story line helps generate public support for the biotech political agenda. As Weiss noted, "It [Nancy Reagan's statement in support of ESCR] is the kind of advocacy that researchers have craved for years, and none wants to slow its momentum."

Unlike the hyped embryonic stem cell research, adult stem cell research is already paying dividends. According to Michael Fumento, one of the nation’s most skilled debunkers of junk science, "Over the horizon are so-called adult stem cells (ASCs), extracted from people of any age and from umbilical cords and placentas. Not only don't they carry the moral baggage of embryonic stem cells (ESCs), but research with them is much further along.

Fumento adds, "Unfortunately, embryonic stem cell researchers have so powerful a PR machine that many influential people don't even know there's an alternative."
Note to the media: Next time you write about the "family," remember both dad and me. It’s our family too.

Mike Reagan is a board member of the John Douglas French Alzheimer’s Foundation and is heard on more than 200 talk radio stations nationally as part of the Radio America network. Comments to mereagan@hotmail.com for Mike.
©2004 Mike Reagan. If you are not a subscriber of Cagle Cartoons, you must contact us to print this column in your publication or post on the internet. Mike's column is distributed exclusively by: Cagle Cartoons, Inc. Cari Dawson Bartley Cari@cagle.com, (800) 696-7561
Mike Reagan, the eldest son of President Ronald Reagan, is heard on more than 200 talk radio stations nationally as part of the Radio America Network.
©2004 Mike Reagan. Mike's column is distributed exclusively by:
Cagle Cartoons, Inc.
Cari@cagle.com, (800) 696-7561

California Embryonic Stem Cell Research Measure Backers Have Millions
http://www.lifenews.com/bio436.html
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 24, 2004

Sacramento, CA (LifeNews.com) -- Despite a poll showing
California voters evenly split over the issue of using billions
of taxpayer funds to pay for unproven embryonic stem cell
research, proponents of a ballot measure to do that have
accumulated a vast war chest to promote their effort.

According to campaign finance documents analyzed by the
Associated Press, backers of the controversial proposal have
accumulated more than $12 million.

The amass of wealth got a boost from a $500,000 donation from the
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and a $100,000 contribution
from Senator John Corzine, a New Jersey Democrat.

With the recent donation, JDRF has now spent $1 million on
Proposition 71 -- money that detractors say could have been used
to provide grants to adult stem cell researchers.

Despite the inordinate amounts spent to promote the proposal, a
poll earlier this month showed California voters aren't
enthusiastically embracing spending so much money on unproven
research at a time when the state is still reeling from financial
disarray.

The California Field Poll showed 45 percent of those 1,034 voters
polled were planning to vote "yes" on the measure, while 42
percent were planning to vote "no." Thirteen percent of
respondents were undecided.

But, that may change next month when backers of Prop 71 begin
spending their millions on television commercials.

Opponents of the measure pale in comparison when it comes to
raking in the dough.
The No on 71 campaign has only $15,000 in donations.

Pro-life organizations, fiscal conservatives, and the Catholic
Church are among the opponents of the embryonic stem cell
research funding measure.

They say that 50% of the costs for the initiative will go to pay
interest on the bonds and that only 30% of the entire funding
proposal will actually back the research.

In fact, California legislative analyst Elizabeth Hill said the
bond measure will cost California $6 billion in principal and
interest if paid off over 30 years, as is normal under such
borrowing plans.

Related web sites:
Proposition 71 Voters' Guide - http://www.noon71.us