Ray,

Someone got their facts wrong on this one. No fetal cells involved. All
the info is at
    http://www.stemcellsinc.com/news/051020.html

Nick Drozdowski
caregiver for Oanh, 15 years pd

rayilynlee wrote:

> Scientist Hopes For Stem Cell Success
> (Page 3 of 3)
>
> Feb. 26, 2006
>
> Scientists say the pace of research has been slowed down by President
> Bush's
> 2001 ban on the use of federal money to create new lines of embryonic
> stem
> cells. Researchers need those new stem cells to expand their work,
> because
> the existing lines are at least five years old and may have been weakened
> over time, limiting their value. However, extracting new stem cells
> destroys
> human embryos, which the president strongly opposes.
>
> "How do you deal with people who feel that what you're doing is morally,
> ethically wrong, because in a sense you're destroying life to save life?"
> Bradley asked Dr. Hans Keirstead.
>
> "I don't feel what I'm doing is morally wrong. I think the use of human
> embryonic stem cells is an ethical and responsible thing to do with
> tissue
> that would have been destroyed in the discards of a fertility clinic,"
> Keirstead replied.
>
> "But there are people who would say that that is life," Bradley said.
>
> "So, let's use it instead of discarding it. Why discard it? If you think
> that that is a holy thing, then value it, treasure it and keep it. Use it
> for research and the betterment of lives, don't throw it away," Keirstead
> said.
>
> In an effort to create a safe haven for embryonic stem cell research, in
> 2004 California voters passed Proposition 71, allocating $3 billion in
> state
> money to allow development of new stem cell lines. While that enticed
> some
> of the top researchers in the field to move to California, the money
> has not
> yet been released because of lawsuits challenging Proposition 71.
>
> In the meantime, Dr. Arnold Kriegstein, head of stem cell research at the
> University of California at San Francisco, is raising $5 million in
> private
> money to build a brand new laboratory that duplicates facilities the
> university already has. It's necessary because scientists are only
> permitted
> to work with new embryonic stem cell lines if their lab does not
> receive any
> federal money.
>
> Even if he already has things like microscopes, Petri dishes and
> refrigerators, he has to buy the same equipment again for the stem cell
> research.
>
> "Absolutely. All the materials and supplies, all the consumable
> materials,
> everything that's involved in any of this work needs to be paid for
> through
> private funds," Kriegstein explains.
>
> Kriegstein says that is one of the problems researchers face. "It's very
> costly and it's time-consuming, and it has been slowing down progress
> in the
> field," he says.
>
> But there is one area of stem-cell research that is now ready for human
> testing and it may be the only chance that Joanna and Marcus Kerner
> have to
> save the life of their 6-year-old son, Daniel. The FDA recently
> approved a
> clinical trial using brain stem cells from fetal tissue to treat the rare
> and always fatal neurological disorder called Batten disease, which
> Daniel
> was diagnosed with a year and a half ago. The Kerners' doctor gave
> them the
> grim prognosis.
>
> "He shook his head and said, 'I'm sorry there's no cure,' " Marcus Kerner
> recalls. "Suddenly, you're told your child is going to die this horrible,
> horrific, long prolonged death of blindness, loss of all motor skills,
> dementia and like a flower wilting."
>
> If Daniel is among the six children selected for this clinical trial, he
> will receive an injection of neural stem cells from aborted fetuses
> that are
> several weeks more developed than embryos. Based on studies in mice, it's
> expected the transplanted cells will produce a crucial brain enzyme, and
> slow the progression of the disease.
>
> "Are you at all hesitant about this? I mean, one, you don't know if it'll
> work. Two, you don't know if it's safe. It's never been done before,"
> Bradley asked Marcus Kerner.
>
> "He's going to die anyway, Ed. And I'd rather he go down fighting,"
> Kerner
> replied, crying. " 'Cause he's a fighter, he's brave. And he wants to
> live."
>
> Scientists will be closely monitoring the results of the clinical
> trial for
> Batten disease looking for clues that could help in the development of
> stem
> cell treatments for a variety of neurological disorders. They will
> also be
> awaiting the outcome in California of a court case trial set to begin
> Monday, Feb. 27, to determine whether to free up the $3 billion for
> embryonic stem-cell research that was allocated by Proposition 71.
>
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