From LifeNews, researchers say they've come up with a way to force adult stem cells to return to a more malleable, less specialized state which essentially gives them the characteristics which make embryonic stem cells valuable in medical research--but without destroying human life.
It's not perfect yet, as the excerpt below indicates, but it looks promising:
The new technique isn't without problems as the researchers must disrupt the DNA of the skin cells to begin the process of reverting to embryonic form. This has the potential of causing cancer in the cells.
As a result, the cells may not be able to be used for medical transplants for patients suffering from diseases such as diabetes or Parkinson's.
“As long as we use those viruses, I don’t think we can say that the [reprogrammed] cells are as safe as embryonic stem cells,” said Dr. Yamanaka.
However, the researchers involved say they are confident they will be able to fix the problem so the "new" embryonic stem cells can be used for treatments.
Adult stem cell research, unlike embryonic stem cell research, is ALREADY providing cures for various injuries and diseases.
One word of caution, however. About a year or so ago, a statement was made that researchers had found a way to extract stem cells from embryos (or something like that) without destroying the human embryo. However, it soon came out that, well, not really. When you pinned down the researchers, they admitted they only thought it possible to do this, that it wasn't a proven and successful technique yet.
I hope that isn't the case here, and that this is a new and real advance that doesn't involve the destruction of human life. But even science has become political in recent decades, and has largely embraced the culture of death, we should always be cautious to ensure we aren't being misled down a path of dehumanization.
0 comments:
Post a Comment