Politics
Wednesday March 17, 2004
Pentagon Flouts Bush Stem Cell Funding Restriction
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WASHINGTON, March 17, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In spite of the restriction of the Bush administration on government funding for embryo research, Lund University in southern Sweden has received $240,000 US for embryo research for Parkinson's disease from the Pentagon. Military spokesmen have defended the grant saying that they hope for a means of treating similar neurological illnesses caused by chemical weapons.
Since President Bush, in a highly publicized decision in August 2001, restricted public funding for embryo research, a parade of Hollywood celebrities have been heard calling for the use of embryos for research, most prominently, spinal cord injury victim, Christopher "Superman" Reeve, and Michael J. Fox who suffers from Parkinson's disease.
The Michael J. Fox Foundation, which raises funds for Parkinson's research, was contacted for funding by Lund University and they passed the request on to the Pentagon. The Lund researchers intend to use cells derived from human embryos to attempt to artificially reproduce the kind of cells that are missing in the brains of Parkinson's sufferers, and inject the cells into animals with Parkinson-like diseases.
Ironically, it is Parkinson's disease that has responded especially well to treatment with adult stem cells, those stem cells that are found in any human being at all ages and which can be extracted without danger to the patient. In April 2002, a California man named Denis Turner, who had severe Parkinson's, was treated with stem cells from his own body. The progression of the disease was permanently halted and his symptoms reversed. He is considered all but cured. This astonishing breakthrough was all but ignored by the mainstream media that has worked to equate, in the public mind, the use of embryos with miracle cures.
One prominent researcher and promoter of the use of embryos, Dr. John Gearhart, has admitted that it is unlikely that embryo stem cells will ever be used in direct therapies for diseases.
Reuters: "Pentagon Bankrolls Swedish Stem Cells Study"
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=4587648
National Review Online: "Practical Hope: Adult Stem Cells Breakthrough"
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-smith031403.asp
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