Saturday, April 4, 2009

Federally Funded Embryonic Destruction

Obama issued an executive order to lift the ban on federally funded embryonic stem cell research. What is embryonic stem cell research being funded? This is very clearly the type that destroys what can be called human life. See a except here from a medical article (that I don't agree with but it provides the information we need):

"Those opposed to research on human embryonic stem cells say ethics guidelines won't make up for the fact that the research is destroying human life."

"Critics of embryonic stem cells for research say other types of stem cells -- derived from umbilical cord blood, adult skin cells, or other sources -- can produce the same result without destroying a potential human life.

They point to recent advances made with induced pluripotent stem cells as proof that embryos don't need to be destroyed to further research.

Last week, several groups of scientists reported developing human stem cells from adult skin without the risk of disease associated with viral vectors used in the transformation. (See: Stem Cell Research Takes Another Step Forward and Two Teams 'PiggyBAC' Stem Cell Research)

But despite the new advances, embryonic stem cells are the purest and earliest form of a stem cell, and the "gold standard," said Valina Dawson, Ph.D., co-director of the neuroregeneration program in the Institute for Cell Engineering at Johns Hopkins.

"Theoretically, it's like Play-Doh and you can make whatever you want," said Dr. Dawson.

Douglas Melton, Ph.D., co-director of HSCI -- a leader in developing induced pluripotent stem cells from adult cells -- announced plans to seek federal funding for embryonic stem cell research as soon as the Bush order is lifted. "

This scientist consider embryos, the "gold standard" for this research, and now embryos can be destroyed, and even created to be destroyed, for medical research with federal funds.

Do you know that the government has allocated over 1% of the 2009 economic stimulus bill that can fund this type of research! "The recently-passed economic stimulus bill contained $10 billion for the NIH. Comstock Rick explained that $8.5 billion could potentially go toward embryonic stem cell research." Now isn't $8.5 billion dollars is a lot of money, and this is economic stimulus, to me it's not ethical, moral, and a deplorable use of our funds (even a dollar would be deplorable but the scale is huge)! This is a huge jump in money, for example, in 2005, only $39 million has been funded by the government (NIH) for Human Embryonic Stem Cell research. That figure is no doubt bigger. The states, have been putting money into it, however. California put $3 billion over 10 years of it's own state money into embryonic research in a bill in 2007, (that $300 million per year). Note: This is from this Wikipedia article.

This research will expect and lead to new lines (getting new embryos to experiment with). How are these lines created?

While the old lines, that President Bush allowed were from lines that were already destroyed, but restricted even taking "spare fertility clinic embryos". Obama allows anything, including "spare fertility clinic embryos" and "left open the creation of cloned -- and noncloned sperm-and-egg-derived -- human embryos solely for the purpose of dismemberment and use for parts. ". See this article by Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post, for more information on the terrible potential for ethical problems Obama created. It ends with this great quote: "Dr. James Thomson, the pioneer of embryonic stem cells, said "if human embryonic stem cell research does not make you at least a little bit uncomfortable, you have not thought about it enough." Obama clearly has not. "

Obama clearly is giving science all the say in the moral questions and undoing what President Bush did, to protect human life. The science industries are not interested in moral questions but focused on the advancement of the science clearly (and are for profit mind you). This is against the "Do No Harm" creed of the medical community. The president, in the executive branch, is to provide protections to humans as the founding documents say. The government is by the people and for the people, and we have protection of our God given rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. While I tend to disagreement on the lack of discernment in the medical article and the lack of convictions on the person-hood of the embryo of the articles I mentioned, this is even universally accepted by the medical community.

Check this out "TRUTH #1 - It Is a Proven Fact: Life Begins at Conception" (from Coral Ridge - Dr. D James Kennedy's church):

"Sixty prominent physicians made that point with great clarity when they issued a declaration in defense of the unborn in the 1980s. The group included Bernard Nathanson, a former abortionist and co-founder of NARAL, a powerful pro-abortion organization; two past presidents of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology; and the former president of the American Academy of Neurology"

"Thirty years later , we know better. Attributing humanity to the unborn can no longer be brushed off as “mystical notions of religious dogma.” To the contrary, it is a widely accepted scientific fact. After reviewing mounds of evidence, one U.S. Senate committee declared:

physicians, biologists, and other scientists agree that conception … marks the beginning of a human being—a being that is alive and is a member of the human species. There is overwhelming agreement on this point in countless medical, biological, and scientific writings. The facts are incontrovertible; the unborn child in the womb is a human child. "

In the embryo "The baby’s DNA (a complete genetic blueprint) is established. This determines the baby’s gender, hair color, eye color, skin tone, height, and more.". Given 18 days, the heart begins to beat... 19, the baby's eyes begin to develop, 4 weeks, arms and legs begin to develop, and so on (see this link for more info.)

There is no need for destruction and/or creation for destruction of human life for this type of research if we have alternatives (like using the umbilical cord, or adult skin cells). We have indeed entered into the dark more so, in this federal government's history that doesn't value the child in the womb. The states can still outlaw it (like OK), and I hope they all do but some are not and have moved in the other direction (CA, MO, and MI).