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CBC TO URGE USE OF ABORTED BABY BRAINS FOR RESEARCH

David Suzuki's Nature of Things Oct 25, 9pm

TORONTO, Oct 12 (LSN.ca) - LifeSite has learned that on Monday October 25 at 9pm, CBC television will air a special episode of David Suzuki's The Nature of Things, in which the use of brain tissue from aborted babies will be glorified as a successful treatment for Parkinson's Disease. The show will focus on Parkinson's patient Lynda McKenzie, who claims that after her surgery last December, during which the brains of four aborted babies were injected into her brain, she was able to move more easily.

Prior to McKenzie's operation last December, she was a control subject in a 1995 US study on the use of fetal tissue to treat the disease. The study involved only 40 patients, just 20 of whom received the fetal tissue transplants. The study showed that of the twenty actual recipients, some improved markedly, but those patients over 60 years of age (the vast majority of Parkinson's sufferers) showed no significant improvements, some even got worse.

Importantly, some of the control subjects, who did not receive transplants during the experiment (but had holes drilled in their heads nonetheless) demonstrated a strong placebo effect. Head researcher on the study, Dr. Stanley Fahn, noted that "they got this placebo surgery and immediately they felt better." Among those claiming a benefit despite undergoing only sham surgery was Lynda McKenzie who said she was initially convinced that she had received real surgery.

U.S. researchers spent five years and $5.7-million (U.S.) on the study and used the brains of 80 aborted babies for the implants on 20 patients. Similar experiments are underway in Canada at the lab of Dr. Ivar Mendez at Dalhousie University in Halifax. Dr. Mendez, received a $90,042 grant from the Medical Research Council of Canada for 1999-2000.

Jim Hughes, national president of Campaign Life Coalition warns that the situation could lead to the purposeful conception of babies for the purpose of aborting them to provide tissues for relatives with Parkinson's - or for profit. There have already been offers to conceive in order to supply tissue for research in the hopes of finding a cure for these types of diseases.

To contact CBC and the Suzuki program to demand a fair presentation of the issue contact: The Nature of Things CBC Audience Relations

If unsatisfied with the response contact the CBC Ombudsman at:

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