PASADENA, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 08/20/08 -- In criticizing mega-church pastor Rick
Warren's recent televised conversation with Presidential candidates
Senators Barak Obama and John McCain, those opposed to the event argued
that the fundamental barrier that separates church and state had been
violated. This conflict is not restricted to politics and religion and is
also a conflict which surfaces when moral questions involve the sciences.
The restrictions in the United States for the funding of embryonic stem
cell research for instance, are often characterized as the out-of-place
imposition of religious standards into science. In the Vision.org article,
Sniffing
Out a Cure for Parkinson's, Dan Cloer outlines recent findings in the
area of adult stem cell research that avoid the moral quagmire.
Contrary to those who lament restrictions on funding, stem cell research of
all types, both embryonic and adult, are on the fast track worldwide. In
the area of adult stem cell research, "it has become increasingly and
enticingly clear that our bodies are outfitted with an array of stem
cells," Cloer writes. "According to several research articles published in
just the last month, adult stem cells may have a far more immediate impact
on regenerative therapies than first imagined."
The Vision.org
article explores recent research into three areas: the gene expression
characteristics of stem cells; the reprogramming of adult stem cells; and
the demonstrated therapeutic capabilities of reprogrammed neural stem cells
to alleviate the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.
Unlike embryo-based research, there are no restrictions on investigating
adult stem cell capabilities. Cloer argues that using a patient's own stem
cells as a source for cell-based therapies avoids the scientific and moral
difficulties of creating cloned embryonic cells. Adult stem cell research
will not usurp embryonic research but it may be the quickest avenue to
clinical application and a realization of the oft-promised therapeutic
potential of cell-based medicine.
"Certainly none of these reports is the final word on stem cell research.
But they each in their own way show how our understanding of the body's
capacity to heal is moving forward one small, often molecular step at a
time," continues Cloer.
Bioethicist Jeremy Sugarman from the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of
Bioethics, notes the necessity of continued scientific
research. "The incredible promise of stem cell research to at minimum
advance scientific understanding and perhaps ultimately to treat persons
with devastating diseases gives moral force to efforts to conduct this
research."
About Vision:
Vision.org is
an online magazine with quarterly print issues that feature in-depth
coverage of current social issues, religion and the Bible, history, family
relationship topics and insights into philosophical, moral and ethical
issues in society today. For a free subscription to the Vision quarterly
magazine, visit their web site at
http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/default.aspx.
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