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In 2001, president George W. Bush vetoed a bill that would have expanded the funding for human embryonic-stem-cell (ESC) research. Since then, many a doctors have prescribed the Utopian medicine — hope. When there’s nothing else to prescribe, hope works like a drug. That is an expected state when we have exhausted all options and have no where else to go ; but when there is a glimmer of hope, to sit around like morons and, watch people suffer is shameful.

THE EMBRYONIC STEM-CELL HARVESTING PROCESS
Source : CNN

• An egg is fertilized or cloned to form an embryo. The embryo begins to divide and forms a hollow ball of cells called a blastocyst.
• Embryonic stem-cells begin to form along the inside of the blastocyst, creating the inner cell mass.
• The cells are scraped away and grown on a layer of feeder cells and culture medium.
• Groups of stem-cells are nurtured under specialized conditions, with different recipes of nutrients and growth factors that direct the cells to become any of the body’s more than 200 various tissues : Pancreatic islet cells that could provide a cure for diabetes ; Muscle cells that could repair or replace a damaged heart ; Nerve cells that could be used to treat Parkinson’s, spinal-cord injuries and strokes, and on and on ..

With so much to gain, what’s stopping our scientific brethren ? The usual suspects — politicians and their gullible subjects. Our politicians, who build bridges where there’s no water, by making Stem-cell research a conservative religious cause, have thrown a monkey wrench. Thanks to the veto, the funding has been stifled ; add to that, the moral dilemma instilled in the general public. The US religious conservatives — Republicans — argue that it is not moral to end a life to save one. This position, though trite, does not seem to be wrong ? It wouldn’t be, if we were talking apples to apples here, but, we are equating gooseberry seeds to a bushel of apples here and, that’s the problem.

The cells in question — embryonic stem-cells — are leftover fertility-clinic embryos that would otherwise be thrown away. To argue, throwing away a so called life is better than using it for scientific research, that could potentially alleviate the suffering of mankind immensely, is an abomination and, an insult to human life. We have seen positive results of stem-cells in research. When stem-cells were injected into paralyzed rats, researchers have seen their spinal cords mend. Given the immense hope this gives against diseases like Paralysis , Parkinson’s and Cancer that are running riot, we as humans, need to do better. Stem-cell science is still in its infancy — more unknowns than knowns here. Most acknowledge that, even if the scientists are given a free reign, cures are at least a decade away. But that mandates we need to act faster and smarter.

The emotional aspect of the human suffering to the moral dilemma of using an otherwise wasted Stem-cell, is a no brainer. But then again, these are people who question Darwin and evolution ! If human life and suffering of fellow beings were actually at the heart of this debate, how could they let the genocide in Darfur continue ? Or for that matter send their soldiers to gallows with non existent intelligence information — aka WMD ? It is not about the suffering, it is about the vote-bank. Curiously, these Republicans do not seem to question, or more stringently, ban ‘In-Vitro Fertilization’ that causes quite a few embryos to be wasted. They dare not. IVF is near and dear to very many struggling couples. It is vastly popular and opposing that would be suicidal. So, the best alternative to fan the ‘Pro-Choice’ vs. ‘Pro-Life’ rhetoric ? Cast aspersions on stem-cells research.

We need to be looking at the numerous hurdles we would need to get past in helping people using this technology, than debating how a bunch of cells in test tube has the same rights as a full blown human. We have miles to go and the red tape is not helping. Current tests will need to graduate from rats to monkeys to humans. Human trials cannot start until a fair understanding of how these cells work and how they can be controlled is ascertained. This, in itself, clubbed with the propensity of stem-cells to turn to tumors is enough to make FDA be stringent, and rightly so. Precise measuring mechanisms that can control and calibrate the progress/failure of stem-cell induced condition needs developed — it is not easy to measure the contribution of these cells accurately once injected.

We need to debate about these, and the challenges of being able to make stem-cells a viable medical option. No God would want humans to continue suffering to a slow end while saving a few cells in a petri dish, that will end up in a garbage can anyway! But, alas, the US government is busy waging a $450 Bn war in Iraq, add $200 Bn more for Afghanistan, planning a wild goose chase to Mars, rejecting the Kyoto protocol and so on …

@ Copyrights Athreya

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