Yesterday's decision lifted that injunction, (PDF) however, and allows continued human experimentation funded by taxpayers. The Court of Appeals did not reach the merits of the litigation, but simply lifted the temporary injunction on the spending. You can read the USA Today article detailing the litigation here.
The bottom line is that today more money is continuing to be funneled into the destruction of human life for research purposes that essentially have never revealed any results. Embryonic stem cell research destroys unconsenting human embryos with government money by government mandate.
The most obvious conundrum over this matter is the looming fact that there is absolutely no documented evidence of success in research done using embryonic stem cells - anywhere - ever - despite all the money that has been spent to do so, and all the media attention this ineffective research has received.
In stark contrast, there is a plethora of evidence that research using adult stem cells (from consenting human adults) is making great scientific strides and helping to heal actual patients. Indeed, adult stem cell research has brought real and tangible success. From spinal cord injuries to heart tissue regeneration, to Parkinson's cures, to juvenile diabetes, to corneal reconstruction, the last decade of adult stem cell research has yielded wonderful results. An article entitled "Real-World Successes of Adult Stem Cell Treatment" explains these findings.
"Adult stem cells (or, more accurately, tissue stem cells) are regenerative cells of the human body that possess the characteristic of plasticity--the ability to specialize and develop into other tissues of the body. Beginning in an unspecialized and undeveloped state, they can be coaxed to become heart tissue, neural matter, skin cells, and a host of other tissues. They are found in our own organs and tissues such as fat, bone marrow, umbilical cord blood, placentas, neuronal sources, and olfactory tissue, which resides in the upper nasal cavity. This simple fact has remarkable implications for medicine--diseased or damaged tissue can become healthy and robust through the infusion of such cells. This has consequently commanded the attention of many researchers as well as those suffering from disease. It is necessary to note that the power of adult stem cells is not nebulously potential, but tangible and real, as it has produced wonderful results in multiple cases. These have been documented in clinical trials, that is, treatments with human patients. With adult stem cells, physicians have successfully treated autoimmune diseases such as lupus, multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease, and rheumatoid arthritis. Furthermore, adult stem cells have helped to avert corneal degeneration and to restore vision in cases of blindness. They have also restored proper cardiac function to heart attack sufferers and improved movement in spinal cord injury patients. It is also important to note that all of these successes have come exclusively from adult stem cell research. Embryonic stem cell research, which requires the destruction of early human life to acquire the cells, has not produced any successes in human patients."You can read the entire article (and all its documented research in footnotes) here.
Adult stem cell research has brought life and hope to many patients, as yet another article also sets forth.
It seems at least somewhat foolish at best to be so insistent on spending billions of dollars on unsuccessful research that destroys human life when excellent medical and scientific progress is being made using stem cells from consenting adults. With adult stem cell research no human life is destroyed, no families are harmed or left to wonder the fate of their embryos in research and experimentation, and science is moved forward.
Maybe this litigation over federal funding of embryonic stem cell research will begin to illuminate the stark difference between well-funded research that yields no results with successful medical research that actually heals people, and helps families, and holds life as sacred.
Today, however, much human life is again being destroyed using government money.
It will be scary to see how much embryonic stem cell research is increased if the new Health Care bill is upheld! This continued use of embryonic stem cell research in the face of evidence that using adult cells would yield better results demonstrates a classic worldview of social Darwinism and Individualism. Society thinks embryonic stem cell research is the future. In reality, it focuses us on the past because instead of protecting our future children, we use a potential life in the hopes of curing an illness people have dealt with for years. I am not to minimize the pain or hurt that individuals endure. As a woman with a disability, I understand how devastating physical suffering can be on one's life, but I still I'm living a life. These embryos are not!
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