Stem cell therapy

[myrmaad]

I have not weighed in on the debate but I will now.

 

I am the fourth of seven children. My brother, the third, was born with cerebral palsy, quaintly referred to as "brain damage" at the time. He died at age 15 when I was 13. He was never able to walk, talk, or feed himself. He was trapped in a body that would not work. But he had the most beautiful and gentle dark brown eyes. When I was a baby he was two and because of his condition we were "babies together" my mom had an amazing picture of us cuddling together. I loved him so much, and I have many very painful memories over what became of him and of my family because of how difficult the situation was for my parents, a hardworking farm couple. My father became convinced it was a source of shame and retribution. By the time I was 4 my brother was placed in a home where we had to travel to see him. Whenever I saw him after that I could see him, "see" me, he knew me, there was an intelligent person in there, neglected and written off by the medical limitations of the time. He died just over a year after my mother. This is a very deep, enduring, painful wound for me.

 

My personal feeling is this, if I could have tried stem cell therapy to give my brother even a small chance at a better life that he deserved, I would have. I would have done anything.

[lukertin]

It's through research that the treatment comes through, so it is somewhat relevant.

No it isn't. A judge has no obligation to permit an alien to enter another country so it can be used as a test subject in a potentially dangerous experiment.

[dazzerfong]

It's through research that the treatment comes through, so it is somewhat relevant.

No it isn't. A judge has no obligation to permit an alien to enter another country so it can be used as a test subject in a potentially dangerous experiment.

 

And where exactly does it say that? Burden of proof's on you right now, I'm afraid.

[HadToRegister]

"The Skin Cell Gun"

 

This man had 2nd degree burns on his body, Doctors used his stem cells and "sprayed on" his new skin.

The video has some graphic images, just to let you know.

Anyhow, there are some very uniformed comments to the video such as "I'm against stem cell research because they experiment on babies!"

This couldn't be farther from the truth.

 

[dazzerfong]

Well, HadToRegister, if those people who were complaining were the ones who were burnt, $20 to anyone that THEY would be the ones begging for such a treatment. Humans are, after all, very selfish beings............

[lukertin]

It's through research that the treatment comes through, so it is somewhat relevant.

No it isn't. A judge has no obligation to permit an alien to enter another country so it can be used as a test subject in a potentially dangerous experiment.

And where exactly does it say that? Burden of proof's on you right now, I'm afraid.

The burden of proof is not on me. It's on you. You're trying to convince a judge to let you do it, which means you couldn't do it in the first place. Meaning you need permission.

[dazzerfong]

It's through research that the treatment comes through, so it is somewhat relevant.

No it isn't. A judge has no obligation to permit an alien to enter another country so it can be used as a test subject in a potentially dangerous experiment.

And where exactly does it say that? Burden of proof's on you right now, I'm afraid.

The burden of proof is not on me. It's on you. You're trying to convince a judge to let you do it, which means you couldn't do it in the first place. Meaning you need permission.

A judge has no obligation to permit an alien to enter another country so it can be used as a test subject in a potentially dangerous experiment.

 

Burden of proof is required when it opposes the status quo. Right now, the default stance is that you don't require a judge to enter a country which they have no jurisdiction over. That's why I said you need proof for your argument.

[Sepherose]

@Lukertin:

 

Here are some interesting resources to read up on, you are wrong, they have proven that stem cells can assist with recovery and repair of damage to the body.

 

First, a simple article from National Geographic.

Next, National Institutes of Heath page about the potential of stem cells.

An interview with Dr. Doug Melton, co-directer of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

Multiple research overviews from HSCI

A page detailing some of the accomplishments of HSCI.

 

 

There, you have your proof. As for the OP's question as to why: I don't rightly know. It could be that the judge is morally opposed to SCR, it could be that they are morally opposed to a lesbian couple raising a child so they are attempting to put every roadblock possible in the way. It could be that the US medical system is in shambles and they genuinely believe that the child could be put in more danger. It could be that SCR is severely lacking and therefore they believe the child is in danger. It would be a plethora of reasons, all I know is that it sucks, and in that position, I would fight tooth and nail to be able to do something that could help my child.

[lukertin]

@Lukertin:

 

Here are some interesting resources to read up on, you are wrong, they have proven that stem cells can assist with recovery and repair of damage to the body.

 

First, a simple article from National Geographic.

Next, National Institutes of Heath page about the potential of stem cells.

An interview with Dr. Doug Melton, co-directer of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

Multiple research overviews from HSCI

A page detailing some of the accomplishments of HSCI.

Experimental and theoretical applications. I believe I asked first and foremost for an article from a medical journal. You know, results where doctors and researchers do experiments on live people in an attempt to save their lives, rather than the results of a bunch of grad students and post-docs dicking around in a lab.

 

Edit: I did further research, and apparently the Cedric Seldon mentioned in the NatGeo article is today alive and kicking and doing well. My points regarding reliability, reproducibility, and long-term feasibility of such treatments still stand. One success is not a 'proof'. Maybe in other disciplines but people are very different from DNA to DNA.

 

The long term effects of stem cell treatments aren't even properly understood--your Cedric Seldon was injected with stem cells from a female, so now his blood will be female while the rest of his body has Y chromosomes. Pretty cool right? I can't imagine anything weird happening out of that.

Edited December 26, 2011 by lukertin

[Marxist ßastard]

his blood will be female

I was going to say you fail biology forever, but it's true that now his bone marrow and white blood cells will have a unique set of DNA. Then again, that's true for any bone marrow transplant – even ones, shock horror, from one of the same sex.

 

You get a C- in biology, at best. Forever.