Stem cell research advocates of all types tend to claim that their brand of stem cell research will produce cures for people in the future (or perhaps now!). While complete cures may be possible in the future, it's more accurate to talk now about therapies rather than cures. Currently, adult stem cell treatments are helping patients fight or heal from disease, but perfect cures are rare or non-existent. This lack of cures is especially true of embryonic stem cell research, which has not even produced a single human therapy. For example, two University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers were very honest about the difficulties facing ESCR researchers who hope to treat human disease in their testimony to the President's Council on Bioethics in 2004.
As ambassadors for Christ, we have a responsibility not to overstate the benefits of adult stem cell research, but we also should not downplay the real results adult stem cell research is providing every day for sick patients. Currently, 56 diseases are being treated using adult stem cells (mostly hematopoietic, or bone marrow, cells). These effective therapies have been reported in peer-reviewed medical journals and legislative hearings.
Do No Harm's website is a great resource for reading the latest news and commentary about adult stem cell therapies. See especially David Prentice's September 2004 Senate Subcommittee testimony, including diagrams and a lengthy list of peer-reviewed citations that connect to the list of 56 therapies.
Do skin stem cells show potenial for curing fatal diseases and reparing damaged organs?
Posted by: Juanita Jones | January 07, 2008 at 01:07 PM
Juanita, it's true that a recent discovery enables scientists to turn skin cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (that is, cells with the same capabilities as embryonic stem cells to become any type of cell).
See here:
http://lti-blog.blogspot.com/2007/11/yes-its-great-news-butsk.html
Posted by: Amy Hall | January 07, 2008 at 01:33 PM