Stem Cells
Stephen Mahoney is 26 years old, who for the past 11 years, he has lived in a wheelchair paralyzed from the neck down. He said: “I sit a quadriplegic depending on a ventilator to breathe. I have to rely on other people for everything; I cannot even move a finger. If using embryonic stem cells is found to be the cure for people in my condition, then I will be right there, a Catholic first in line waiting for that transplant.”
If paralyzed people are ever going to walk again, it might be because Dr. Hans Keirstead is among the best in the field of human embryonic stem cell research. He is ready to become the first American scientist to inject stem cells into people paralyzed by spinal cord injuries.
He claims: "I have never seen in my career a biological tool as powerful as the stem cell. It addresses every single human disease.” Embryonic stem cells, are extracted from embryos, which are capable of becoming any type of cell in the body and can replace cells that have been damaged by disease or injury.
Research has been slowed by Bush’s ban on the use of federal money to create new lines of embryonic stem cells. New stem cells are needed, because existing lines have weakened over time, thereby limiting their value. Extracting new stem cells destroys human embryos, which the righteous strongly opposes. They feel that what researchers are doing is morally wrong.
Dr. Keirstead maintains: "I don’t feel what I’m doing is morally wrong. I think the use of human embryonic stem cells is an ethical and responsible thing to do with tissue that would have been destroyed in the discards of a fertility clinic."
To those that insist the embryo is life, Keirstead says: "So, let's use it instead of discarding it. Why discard it? If you think that is a holy thing, then value it, treasure it and keep it. Use it for research and the betterment of lives, don't throw it away."
If paralyzed people are ever going to walk again, it might be because Dr. Hans Keirstead is among the best in the field of human embryonic stem cell research. He is ready to become the first American scientist to inject stem cells into people paralyzed by spinal cord injuries.
He claims: "I have never seen in my career a biological tool as powerful as the stem cell. It addresses every single human disease.” Embryonic stem cells, are extracted from embryos, which are capable of becoming any type of cell in the body and can replace cells that have been damaged by disease or injury.
Research has been slowed by Bush’s ban on the use of federal money to create new lines of embryonic stem cells. New stem cells are needed, because existing lines have weakened over time, thereby limiting their value. Extracting new stem cells destroys human embryos, which the righteous strongly opposes. They feel that what researchers are doing is morally wrong.
Dr. Keirstead maintains: "I don’t feel what I’m doing is morally wrong. I think the use of human embryonic stem cells is an ethical and responsible thing to do with tissue that would have been destroyed in the discards of a fertility clinic."
To those that insist the embryo is life, Keirstead says: "So, let's use it instead of discarding it. Why discard it? If you think that is a holy thing, then value it, treasure it and keep it. Use it for research and the betterment of lives, don't throw it away."
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