i do not wish to say anything bad or negative about laura bush. she is simply ill informed.

LANGHORNE, Pa. - First lady Laura Bush defended her husband’s policy on embryonic stem cell research Monday, calling Democratic rival John Kerry’s criticism “ridiculous” and accusing proponents of overstating the potential for medical breakthroughs.

“We don’t even know that stem cell research will provide cures for anything — much less that it’s
very close” to yielding major advances, Bush said.

RICK: stem cell research has already been proven to be useful. the rest of this information is so i have not taken anything out of context.

The first lady weighed in on the highly charged political and scientific issue on the third
anniversary of Bush’s decision to limit federal funding of embryonic stem cell research to only the
78 stem cell lines in existence Aug. 9, 2001.

Religious groups oppose the scientific work in which culling of stem cells kill the embryos,equating that with abortion, and had urged Bush not to be the firstpresident to fund the research even with limits.

Polls show widespread support for research Proponents of the science, including former first lady Nancy Reagan and 58 Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, argue that it could lead to cures to diseases such as diabetes and Alzheimer’s. Former President Reagan suffered from the latter for a decade before his death June 5 due to related pneumonia.

Only a fraction of those initial 78 stem cell lines — 21 at last count — are yet available to researchers because of problems with the lines’ growth or their ownership. In March, a National Institutes of Health count cast doubt on how many ultimately would be usable.

GUIDE Stem cell research

Harvesting stem cells• Step One
• Step Two
• Step Three
• Step Four

Embryonic stem cells used in research most often come from embryos left over after in vitro fertilization procedures.

Step One: An egg is fertilized by a sperm in a lab dish.

Step Two: The fertilized egg begins to divide and develop into an embryo. About five days later, the embryo becomes a blastocyst -- a hollow ball of about 100 cells. The inner cells are the embryonic stem cells.

Step Three: Stem cells are removed from the blastocyst and cultured in the laboratory where they theoretically can multiply indefinitely.

Step Four: By adding and removing certain proteins, scientists can coax the cells to develop into new heart, bone, nerve or other cells to treat diseases.

Assisted reproductive technology: Fertility treatments that involve a laboratory handling eggs or embryos, such as in vitro fertilization.

Blastocyst: A preimplantation embryo of 30 to 150 cells.

Differentiation: The process by which early unspecified cells acquire the features of specific cells such as heart tissue, liver or muscle.

Embryo: The earliest stage of development from the single cell to implantation in the uterus.

Embryonic stem cell: A cell from an embryo that has the potential to become a wide variety of specialized cell types.

Proponents and members of the medical community say more than 100 new cell lines have been created worldwide since Bush’s decision — some with new techniques that may make them more
scientifically useful — and could be studied under more open rules. An exact count isn’t possible
because private funding means much of the work is done without any public scrutiny.

With polls showing overwhelming support for stem cell research, Kerry has promised to give scientists more freedom. He has used the word ban to describe Bush’s actions when what the president has done is limit the research. be useful. the rest is so i have taken nothing out of context.stem cell research has of this of the myths that start during a campaign.”

Kerry spokesman Phil Singer said Bush’s restrictions apply to 99.9 percent of potential stem cell lines that could be studied. “If that’s not a ban,” he said, “we don’t know what is.”

Monday marks a 'sad anniversary'
Unusually combative, the first lady said Kerry was trying to make a political issue out of her husband’s policy “without saying what’s right. I imagine he knows better.”

Like other Bush-Cheney campaign surrogates, Bush credited her husband with being the first president to use taxpayer money for the research. That is true, perhaps only because the science is so new. The policy of Democratic President Clinton allowed taxpayer money to be used in the research of any stem cell lines, but he never funded the nascent research. Bush invested $25
million in limited research.

Kerry’s running mate, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, said Monday marked “a sad anniversary” because the Bush administration “put restrictions in place that dramatically undermine our efforts to find cures for diseases.”

Edwards, in a conference call with reporters, said Kerry would reverse Bush’s policy, invest $100
million for research and establish ethical guidelines for the science.

In a speech to the Pennsylvania Medical Society, which endorsed her husband, Bush said policy- makers must be aware of the “ethical and moral implications” of the research.

“I hope that stem cell research will yield cures,” the first lady said. “But I know that embryonic stem cell research is very preliminary right now and the implication that cures for Alzheimer’s are around the corner is just not right and it’s really not fair to people who are watching a loved one suffer with this disease.”

'It's not fair'
Afterward, the first lady said she was not singling out the Reagan family, several of whom have called for the restrictions to be lifted. Ron Reagan spoke out against Bush’s policy at the Democratic National Convention last month, urging delegates to cast a vote for stem cell research in November — a tacit endorsement of Kerry.

“It’s not fair” to raise false hopes “because stem cell research is very, very preliminary,” said Laura
Bush. Alzheimer’s contributed to the death of her father in the 1990s.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson also defended Bush’s policy, saying the administration “opened the doors for the first time to federal taxpayer funding for human embryonic stem cell research.” Clinton’s policy would have paid for research using stem cell lines created at any time.

Embryonic stem cells are master cells that form during the early days after conception and can turn into any tissue in the body. Many scientists hope to one day harness them to grow replacement tissue to treat diabetes, spinal cord injuries and other diseases.

A poll by the University of Pennsylvania National Annenberg Election Survey found that 64 percent
of Americans favor federal funding of embryonic stem cell research while 28 percent oppose it. Independent voters, crucial in a close election, also back using taxpayers’ dollars while slightly more than half of Republicans support it, according to the survey released Monday.

While Bush’s actions forbid federal dollars, it does not stop private funding of stem cell research. In an editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. George Q. Daley, a leading stem cell researcher, said that research has struggled without federal funds.

I LOVE CIGARS!!!

How about you guys??

Craig

The president’s policy does not prohibit privately funded embryonic stem cell research. Nor does it ban federal funding of adult stem cell research, which has provided treatment to human beings with more than 40 maladies.

Ron Reagan: In his speech, Ron didn't even mention Alzheimer's, perhaps because even strong supporters of embryonic stem cell research say it is unlikely to be of use for that disease. (Reagan himself admitted this on a July 12 segment of MSNBC's Hardball.) And he didn't talk about current debates on funding research using existing embryos. Instead he endorsed the more radical agenda of human cloning --mass-producing one's own identical twins in the laboratory so they can be exploited as (in his words) "your own personal biological repair kit" when disease or injury strikes.

Before he closed, Reagan endorsed not only embryonic research but human cloning without using the word “cloning,” various pro-life ethicists pointed out. He also denied that fetuses were created or destroyed in the process. He described opponents of funding embryonic stem cell research as ignorant and lacking in compassion.

“[T]here are those who would stand in the way of this remarkable future, who would deny the federal funding so crucial to basic research,” Reagan said. “They argue that interfering with the development of even the earliest-stage embryo, even one that will never be implanted in a womb and will never develop into an actual fetus, is tantamount to murder. A few of these folks, needless to say, are just grinding a political axe, and they should be ashamed of themselves. But many are well-meaning and sincere. Their belief is just that, an article of faith, and they are entitled to it.

“But it does not follow that the theology of a few should be allowed to forestall the health and well-being of the many. And how can we affirm life if we abandon those whose own lives are so desperately at risk?”

Americans will face a choice between more than two candidates and two parties, Reagan said. “We have a chance to take a giant stride forward for the good of all humanity,” he said. “We can choose between the future and the past, between reason and ignorance, between true compassion and mere ideology.”

Reagan’s reasoning is not new, Southern Baptist ethicist Richard Land said.

“We’ve heard these arguments about unfettering medical research from any moral and ethical guidelines in the past, when moral qualms have been labeled as ignorance,” said Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. “What such arguments produced were the technologically advanced and morally corrupt laboratories of the Third Reich.

“When people start making arguments about unfettering technicians in white coats from any moral and religious concerns, the little hairs on the back of our neck ought to stand up, because that’s a scientific ideology which leads to barbarism against human beings. I, for one, do not want to live in a society in which older and bigger human beings think they have the right to kill the tiniest human beings to harvest their tissue merely to improve their own health or longevity. What Ron Reagan is calling ignorance is called civilization.”

The focus of Reagan’s efforts in the wake of the June death of his father, a staunch pro-lifer, is Bush’s 2001 order prohibiting federal grants for destructive stem cell research. The procurement of stem cells, the body’s master cells that develop into other cells and tissues, brings about the death of an embryo only days old. The president’s policy does not prohibit privately funded embryonic stem cell research. Nor does it ban federal funding of adult stem cell research, which has provided treatment to human beings with more than 40 maladies.

Reagan’s speech was “breathtakingly irresponsible,” said Robert George, a professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University.

Reagan “virtually promised Parkinson's sufferers that embryonic stem cells will provide a cure for them in ten years or so,” George said in a commentary for National Review Online. “But Ron Reagan has no idea -- no one does -- whether this is the future of medicine. He is engaged in a campaign of outrageous hype to persuade suffering people that a mere change of administrations in Washington will lead to cures” for many diseases.

The low point of Reagan’s speech, however, was his suppression of the difference “between human embryonic stem cells and the human embryos that are deliberately killed in the process of stem cell harvesting,” said George, a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics. “After promising to ‘do justice to the science,’ Ron Reagan described the process of obtaining embryonic stem cells in a way that left out the fact that the cloning process he described creates a human embryo which is killed in order to harvest its stem cells.

“Those of us who oppose embryonic stem cell harvesting object to the practice because it necessarily involves the killing of human embryos,” George said. “And human embryos are nothing other than human beings in the embryonic stage of their natural development. Ron Reagan refuses to face up to this fact. He suggests that it is a matter of ‘theological belief,’ when the truth is that it is a plain matter of scientific fact that can be verified by consulting any textbook in human embryology.”

It turns out Reagan, not the foes of embryonic stem cell research, is the ideologue, said Wesley Smith, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute.

Reread Mr. Reagan's comments carefully and slowly. This man is obviously a die-hard Socialist, not a Democrat. And if he claims he's not, then he needs to reexamine his beliefs, agenda, and motives.

Now, please follow this link to what the President REALLY feels about this issue. At this site, you can read the speech he delivered to America, or you can watch the speech or listen to the speech. The President spent much time, consideration, and resources on his decisions.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/08/20010809-2.html 

I love cigars too. In fact, I always read Rick's posts so I can stay up to date and informed on any and all new things gar related. Thanks Rick!!

I think I've heard of these cigars you guys are talking about. Only problem is I can't decide if I want to leave the Stem Cello on or off.

In this debate it is important to note that there are other sources of stem cells, placentas for example have high levels of stem cells.

Apparently Embryos have the highest stem cell caount and so they desire them so much. As a Catholic my self I believe in what the church teaches and I follow it as well. I also understand that the teachings are reasonable, humanitarian and compassionate.

These embryos or even zygots are human, they are not canine of feline they are human. I believe that are Constitution up holds human rights to the highest degree. In America and around the world love for human life has declined and so subject to disregard.

Robert George makes a good case against Mr. Reagan, especially regarding his belief of embryos and their humanity. Invitro Fertilization too deface the human act of procreation and brings with it undesirable effects, e.g. embryos that may never develop. It is not a waste of human life, it is human life that is frozen and therefore not free.

In the land of freedom what will we choose, the abuse of human life that is most worthy of our regard. My hope is that we will respect all human life and face our challeges of sickness and death in a humanitarion manner.

One more note to add, John Kerry has assumed his faith as a Catholic, but without repenting continues to live out side what he professes to be his faith. What kind of President will he make then? Will he be faithful to America or will he decide on his own what is right and wrong. I am afraid that America is at this point now.

President Bush is not at the pinnacle of perfection either. I disagree with the way he handled the war with Iraq. I pray that he will be a better man and I pray this for John Kerry as well. This is a time to learn about human values and the mistakes made in the past.

As an American I will vote, but I will never be content until Freedom, equality and peace reign in America and the world. I have a small part in that, but I will do it nonetheless.

Sincerely Yours,

Rodnie Matute

rodnie

your point of view is very well said.

Club3006

at the moment i am smoking my last cigar of the day. one of the rollie's i just bought at auction here.

cigars's, their not just for breakfast anymore.

If I put a stem cell on a cigar, would it grow into a second cigar?

I hate when a stem cell is mixed into the leaves of a good cigar. I pulled one out with my teeth the other day and I swear it was 3 inches long. I am gonna use it as a match to light up another cigar

I'm having trouble deciphering at what humidity to keep the stem cells.

Also, I believe the grants to do the research were overbid...sorry to beat a dead horse!


Goody

Great post.
Some good information on both sides of the issue, plus some well directed humor.

One serious point to reiterate, however, is the fact already pointed out by Rick that President Bush is the ONLY president to put funds into stem cell research.
And there is no way anyone should think it's simply becuase it's "new". He did it only months into office.
Did the technology advance in only those months after Clinton left? Get real.


Stem cell technology certainly has promise, just as many other research projects do. Stem cell research is not getting publicity because it's the next best weapon against disease. It gets publicity because it's the most controversial. To think otherwise is simply fooling yourself.