Mar 24 2006

Forget Embryonic Stem Cells

Published by at 5:22 pm under All General Discussions,Stem Cell Debate

Sperm generating cells are best!

German scientists said on Friday they had isolated sperm-producing stem cells that have similar properties to embryonic stem cells from adult mice.

If the same type of cells in humans show similar qualities the researchers from the Georg-August-University of Goettingen believe they could be used in stem cell research which would remove the ethical dilemma associated with stem cells derived from human embryos.

Emphasis mine. Gotta love Reuters – killing a human being is an ‘ethical dilemma’. The science and the law are clear, an embryo is a distinct human individual from the mother and father. The word ’embryo’ describes a stage in the life of the human being – not the form of life or species. Reuters also prints a bold faced lie in this article:

But their use is controversial because the most promising stem cellsare derived from very early human embryos for treating human disease left over from fertility treatments.

Er…No. The LEAST promising stem cell research has come from the field of embryonic stem cells. The ‘theory’ (which isn’t even a scientific theory or sound logical argument in reality) is embryonic stem cells go on to form all cell types, therefore they must be the most flexible cells to transform.

Mathematically this is quite the opposite. Adult stem cells and umbilical chord cells have simplified the combinatorials by being partially transformed. Part of the problem nature has solved for us. The blank slate of the embryonic cells have more puzzle pieces and more steps required to get to stable cell cultures than their more mature counterparts.

This is why adult stem cell therapies are in human trials and embryonic stem cell trials are still producing cancers in rats. The embryonic stem cells have led to ZERO therapies.  They are having trouble just making usable lines and keeping them alive and free of genetic mutations.

In fact, all cells have the genetic code to create any protein, hormone, cell, tissue, or organ in the body.  It is breaking the combination (which is made up of 10,000 numbers which must be run in a correct sequence of 100’s of steps, plus exact timing and environmental conditions at each step) which is hard.  Think about that the next time you unlock your 3 digit bycicle lock with 40 numbers on it.

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