Pluripotent Stem Cells Avoid Need for Embryos

I am Pro-Life. I am alive. I like being alive. You probably do too. I don’t think I know a single person who wishes they weren’t (at least openly).

An embryo is a form of human life. Who knows when the soul is introduced, but it’s still life and, in my opinion, life is sacred.

There’s much ado about Obama’s reversal of current law that makes growing and harvesting stem cells from human embryos legal again. Apparently scientists cheered! Of course, the AP makes it sound like all scientists, but that’s expected from their slanted view of the world.

Here’s the thing, embryos aren’t the only way to get stem cells. All we hear from the mainstream media is how great stem cells are. No one is disputing that! We all agree that stem cells are good. But what we don’t hear from the press is that scientists already know how to get stem cells from adults and there is a new technology where scientists can create pluripotent stem cells (iPS) from adults.

This new research uses ordinary adult body cells – like skin cells – and, with some added growth factors, prompts them to become embryonic-like stem cells. These induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) have the flexibility (pluripotency) of embryonic stem cells without the moral problems of destroying human life. [link]

In fact, this research has been extremely promising for some time now. So why the silence? It’s truly troubling that this technology is out there and it seems that the press is purposefully leaving it out.

From the Washington Post:

In the new work, Nagy and his colleagues in Toronto and at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland instead used a sequence of DNA known as a transposon, which can insert itself into the genetic machinery of a cell. In this case, the researchers used a transposon called “piggyBac” to carry four genes that can transform mouse and human embryonic skin cells into iPS cells. After the conversion took place, the researchers removed the added DNA from the transformed cells using a specific enzyme.

“PiggyBac carries the four genes into the cells and reprograms the cells into stem cells. After they have reprogrammed the cells, they are no longer required, and in fact they are dangerous,” Nagy said. “After they do their job they can be removed seamlessly, with no trace left behind. The ability for seamless removal opens up a huge possibility.”

The process isn’t finalized but a breakthrough occurred just this week. You’d think the potential being what it is, that all research monies would go towards this methodology rather than one that grows human embryos for the sole purpose of destroying them and harvesting their parts.