Comments on: Senate bill would prohibit at least one form of embryonic stem cell research

By: JT

JT — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:00:52 +0000

To Joe Sheppard — How dare you call IVF patients selfish and immoral? A licensed surgeon treating my wife for a childhood hernia moved her umbilical cords in such a way that they fused to her femoral arteries disallowing her eggs to pass through the felopian tubes properly. That is why we are utilizing IVF. How is that immoral? How is that selfish? Because a doctor screws up 25 years ago, my wife is immoral for wanting to experience pregnancy and have a child from her own womb? I sincerely hope you have not procreated or raised a child in anyway to pass along your ridiculous close-minded propoganda about what is and isn’t moral.

By: Aaron Burr V. Mexico

Aaron Burr V. Mexico — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 23:54:56 +0000

I used to feel bad for sick kids. But I study Darwin and I guess it is natural selection. I am a thinker. I am not driven by religion. We must now, as we begin the push for universal healt care, have a conversation about the sick just being sick. It is life folks.

By: Ann

Ann — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 17:34:41 +0000

Obviously, the supporters of this bill are for a culture of disease and death. My child suffers from Juvenile Diabetes which is a devastating and lethal disease. The top endocrinologists in the state of Georgia have told all us parents of Juvenile Diabetics that embryonic stem cell research is superior to adult stem cell research in the quest for the cure. I can’t even think of the Catholic or Baptist church leaders without getting nauseous. Thank god I’m an Episcopalian. We are for life and health. The legislators” living at the foot of the cross” have certainly thrown our children under the bus. Don’t think we parents won’t work to replace them with compassionate representatives when they come up for re-election. Our children are everything to us. They are our precious loved ones.

By: Alex B

Alex B — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:42:53 +0000

PyschDoc, you are stating that adult lines are not any less effective than embryonic? I have dealt not only with embryonic stem cell research, but also implantation. In early and mid 90’s when I was first exposed to it I have seen the effects of what it does to people without fully understanding the mechanisms. Now the mechanisms are clearer and the foundation for a breakthrough are set.

I do not want to get into a futile conversation about when life begins, since it is nothing more than opinions, but based on science embryonic cells are simply more effective. No one is saying we need to kill babies to cure cancer, but a zygote is not a child. It may be a functioning organism, but so is a tadpole. If you value life, but still eat meat kind of puts you in the category of the Darwin’s thesis. Life may begin at fertilization, but is it human? For you it is, for others it is when the heart is beating, for me is when neuronal connections have become abundant, then we have the 24-26wk cutoff of sustainability, then the actual birth. Your definition is not absolute.

Adult lines are not as “pure” as embryonic ones. Stem cells mature and develop functions the older they are. Clean slates of embryonic stem cells provide greater yield for proposed functioning.
The time frames you are citing are from a continuing research. The only proponents of adult over embryonic cells are the ones basing their decisions on religious beliefs. But any research is better than none, so it has to continue.

The money flow is only an issue when it is taken away from research. Private funds have been continuously poured into research and withdrawal into alternative research was more due to political reasons than scientific. Big money has politics behind it, so it is not surprising of the pull out. Now that the attitudes of the new administration are changed expect the reversal of the flow of funds. Everyone wants to have safety in future governmental protection and get best yields in funded research. If I believe GM will not honor warranties, I will be less inclined to get one. But Hyundai offers a buyback under unemployment and an excellent warranty. So between a Caddy and Genesis, I may swallow my pride and go with safety, not yield.

The bottom line is flow of funds does not determine scientific anticipation and embryonic stem cell research provides better and faster answers. Everything else is religious hoopla.

By: PyschDoc

PyschDoc — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:14:59 +0000

I am always amazed at how much misinformation there is out there about stem cell research. In order to truly understand what is going on, we need to do some reading and studying about a subject that is truly scientific and philosophic and biologic. Most people don’t have the time and so they rely on soundbites that sometimes can be lies.

For instance, even the JDRF (juvenile diabetes research foundation) will admit that cures using Human Embryonic stem cells (HESCR)are far off in the future (maybe 10 to 20 years. They still haven’t figured out how to keep these cells from mutating into tumors.) However, adult stem cell research is already providing some cures of this dread disease. All one has to do is go out and look at JDRF website, instead of listening to David Adelman’s soundbite which was totally false.

Venture capitalists were funding HESCR for the past 10 to 15 years. They have moved their money to adult stem cell research and to iPs research because most of the promise is in this research rather than HESCR. That is why the biotech companies are begging for taxpayer funds more now than ever, because they are losing private funds to the more ethical research. Follow the money to see where the cures will be coming from.

I am a doctor. I have brains. I was not raised or educated in Georgia. I went to a big university with a big research program. And yet I applaud the Georgia Assembly for wanting to protect human life from destructive research. I have always known (through embryology-science) that human life begins at the second of fertilization because in the one cell stage that life is unique, distinct and already co-ordinating its own development. If it wasn’t human life, do you truly think that the scientists would be so insatiable in their demand for human embryos.

So I guess the argument for not destroying human life in the beginning is a philosophic one. Suppose that all newborn babies were found to have a chemical in their brain that would cure cancer. Suppose also, for the sake of a thought experiment, that the parents were okay with donating their child for research. Of course, the child would have to be killed for the chemical. Would you say that was murder? Why or why not? That is the question that needs to be answered by everyone.

I have answered it for myself. Human life needs to be protected in all its many stages or else the strong will always be able to do what they want with the weak; the big will always be able to do what they want with the small. If you believe that Human Embryonic Stem Cell research is correct, then the first person that comes along that is stronger, bigger, more independent, and healthier than you can determine whether you live or die.

Think about it.

By: chris

chris — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:23:50 +0000

I’m not quite sure what happens next. Does this bill now go to the house?? Hopefully, it will be stopped there.

By: k martin

k martin — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 04:59:05 +0000

sad, sad illogical and immoral religious zealots trying to save us from ourselves. If you won’t let us support and house companies who save lives, at least let me buy a freakin six pack of beer on SUNDAY! IDIOTS

how have these right-wingers hijacked our government?

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 04:35:54 +0000

People are down on their luck and looking for answers, but get this crap from state “leaders.” In one day, they’ve passed bills deterring people from buying a new car this year (and justified it by stating the tax savings on a $150,000 Mercedes) and “sent a message” to potentially high-paying bio-tech firms that you are not welcome here. What a great job stimulating the economy and battling the state’s record high unemployment. I think today may be a turning point in Georgia, when the mainstream majority finally says “enough is enough.” We just have to field good moderate candidates (regardless of party) next year and the media can’t let this go. But unfortunately, the “liberal” AJC does us no favors in pressing real issues — my guess is that this story will be replaced by a tale of some dog pushing a shopping cart through a Wal-Mart in Missouri by the morning.

By: Ashamed of my state

Ashamed of my state — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 04:32:43 +0000

The favorite canard of the religious right – that adult stem cells have cured “insert number of diseases here” and embryonic stem cells have cured zero – is yet another example of the poor logic that defines the illogical and unscientific thought of religious fanatics and ideologues everywhere.

Ignoring the fact that embryonic stem cell research has been hamstrung for nearly a decade, this kind of argument is equivalent to saying that, for example, because Salk had not developed a polio vaccine in 1950 that he never would.

The absence of a discovery does not mean that discoveries will never occur. How about we actually give stem cell research of ALL kinds a chance before we write something off as useless?

Oh right. Because religious fools are just that. Fools.

By: Carl

Carl — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 04:31:38 +0000

I cannot believe how backwords this state continues to be!!! I’ve lived here 30 years and raised 4 children here. One of them is a nurse who has one healthy child, but due to scar tissue in her fallopian tubes had several ectopic pregnancies after(I guess the right to life folk and the Republicans in charge should know that iz God’s version of getting rid of children by miscarriage, right?). Her only option is in-vitro fertilization now, since one fallopian tube was removed. She is in her mid-twenties. Geesh. It’s even sadder because she works at a children’s hospital.

My mother, who thank God lives in Alabama, has Parkinsons’s Disease, and there is hope now that she might be cured through stem cell research. How would anyone like if they had worked all their life, and the day of their retirement were diagnosed with Parkinsons?

BTW, I am from Alabama orginailly, although I lived around the world due to being an military dependent. Alabama ranks 17th nationally for education. Georgia ranks what…49th or 50th? Ga raised these current crop of politicians and it really shows!!! Idiots.