RIO DE JANEIRO, February 3, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Likely in response to the large number of reports appearing about the successes into such research, the Brazilian government has announced it will fund one of the world’s largest studies on stem cells and heart disease.
Health Minster Humberto Costa said the study will involve 1200 cardiac patients at National Institute of Cardiology at Laranjeiras.
The Brazilian research will involve drawing the patients’ own stem cells from bone marrow, cultivating them and re-inserting them to repair damaged heart tissue. The government is seeking an effective treatment for cardiac patients that can be reliable enough to be covered by the public health care system.
The use of embryonic stem cells has been found to be ineffective and dangerous for patients in therapies. The debate on the use of embryos has been ongoing in the Brazilian Congress for over a year. In January, the Brazilian Bishops issued a statement criticizing some scientists who “sell hopes to a whole list of seriously ill people, as if, once the law is approved, effective therapies will at once be able to take place.”
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