LIFE DIGEST: FDA OKs first embryonic stem cell trials
- Jan 26, 2009
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted permission for the first human clinical trials using embryonic stem cells.
Also in this edition: Pennsylvania best, California worst in pro-life rankings and Survey: Chinese women want more children and Italian court opens door for starvation death
Geron Corp., a California-based biotechnology firm, announced the ground-breaking development Jan. 23, saying it would use the cells from human embryos in experimental treatments of patients with severe spinal cord injuries. Using as many as seven medical centers in the country, Geron plans to inject the stem cells into the location where the spinal cord was injured from 7 to 14 days after the accident in each patient.
Thomas Okarma, Geron’s president, hailed the FDA decision, saying it marked “the beginning of what is potentially a new chapter in medical therapeutics – one that reaches beyond pills to a new level of healing: the restoration of organ and tissue function achieved by the injection of healthy replacement cells.”
Embryonic stem cell research (ESCR), however, is flawed, critics point out, because it requires the destruction of tiny human beings in their first days of life and experiments with laboratory animals have been plagued by problems, including the development of tumors.
Some opponents of ESCR expressed concern the FDA’s action may undermine research using non-embryonic stem cells. Unlike research using embryos, extracting stem cells from non-embryonic sources – such as umbilical cord blood, placentas, fat and bone marrow – has nearly universal support. Such research has produced treatments for at least 73 human ailments, according to Do No Harm, a coalition promoting ethics in research.
The federal government funds non-embryonic stem cell research, but, based on a 2001 order by President Bush, refuses to provide grants for stem cell research that results in the destruction of human embryos.
“If our goal is to find cures fast, developing therapies with adult stem cells is the best route,” said Joni Eareckson Tada, a paraplegic and evangelical Christian who is an advocate for the physically and mentally impaired. “Let’s invest our money into research that not only respects all human life but offers a real remedy right now to many diseases.”
The FDA had placed a hold in May on Geron’s application for clinical trials.
Pennsylvania best, California worst in pro-life rankings
Pennsylvania is the most pro-life state in the country, while California is the least, according to new rankings by Americans United for Life (AUL).
Released Jan. 22, AUL’s sixth annual ratings show the following top ten of most pro-life states: (1) Pennsylvania; (2) Louisiana; (3) South Dakota; (4) Oklahoma; (5) Mississippi; (6) Texas; (7) North Dakota; (8) Nebraska; (9) Arkansas, and (10) Indiana.
The 10 least pro-life states, beginning with the worst, are: (1) California; (2) Hawaii; (3) Vermont; (4) New Jersey; (5) Connecticut; (6) Nevada; (7) Oregon; (8) New York; (9) Washington, and (10) Illinois.
AUL, with offices in Chicago, based its rankings on such criteria as state laws regarding informed consent for women seeking abortions, parental involvement for minors considering abortions, restrictions on abortion funding, regulations for abortion clinics, funding of embryonic stem cell research, physician-assisted suicide and conscience protections for pro-life health-care providers.
AUL’s research shows the pro-life movement is advancing, a spokeswoman said.
“We are making progress – state by state and law by law – to build a culture of life in America,” said Denise Burke, AUL’s vice president of legal affairs, in a written release. “In states that have passed common-sense limitations on abortion, abortion rates have declined by nearly 20 percent over the past 10 years.”
Survey: Chinese women want more children
Nor surprisingly, Chinese women would like to have more children.
About 71 percent of women surveyed by China’s National Family Planning Commission said they would like to have two or more babies, the China Daily reported. The poll, conducted in 2006, was not released until Jan. 15.
China’s population control policy, which has been in place since 1979, generally limits couples in urban areas to one child and those in rural areas to two, if the first is a girl. Exceptions are made for some ethnic minorities. Also, married couples who are both the only children in their families may have two children, except in Henan province, which is the most populous in the country, according to China Daily.
The population control policies are unlikely to change, the head of the family planning commission said. “China’s family planning policy underpins the country’s economy and demographics,” said Li Bin, minister of the commission, China Daily reported.
China will accomplish its goal of limiting the country’s population to 1.36 billion by the end of 2010, according to the commission.
China’s policy has been marked by forced abortions and sterilizations. Infanticide, especially of females, also has been reported. In addition to abortions and sterilizations, penalties for violations of the policy have included fines, arrests and the destruction of homes.
The coercive program has helped produce a gender imbalance in the world’s most populous country, with many girls being aborted in order to enable a male baby to be born later. China had 120 males born for every 100 females in 2005, according to the United Nations Population Fund.
Italian court opens door for starvation death
An Italian court has struck down a regional government decision barring clinics from helping a severely handicapped woman starve to death at the request of her father.
The court in the Lombardy region said the government will have to select a health clinic suitable for removing a feeding tube from Eluana Englaro, 38, according to the ANSA news service. She has been in a coma since a 1992 auto accident.
Lombardy’s government issued a September order that, in essence, barred any clinic in the region from aiding in her death. Although clinics in another region have agreed to assist in Englaro’s death, her father, Beppino Englaro, has been unable to find a clinic in Lombardy that will cooperate, ANSA reported.
The regional court ruling followed a November decision by Italy’s top court that allowed nutrition to be halted for Englaro.
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Further Learning
Learn more about: Life, Abortion, Birth Control, End-of-Life Issues, Stem-Cell Research, Science, Bioethics