Obama Presses Forward with Culture of Death

President Barack Obama signed an executive order to allow federal funding of research that will require the killing of human embryos.

This order reverses a policy instituted by former President George W. Bush in August 2001, which funded research on already-existing stem cell lines without encouraging any further destruction of human life.

While making the announcement, Obama said that he would seek to “ensure that our government never opens the door to the use of cloning for human reproduction.” But neither in his remarks nor in the executive order itself did he say anything about stopping human cloning for purposes other than human reproduction—such as cloning human embryos in order to extract their stem cells for research.

Understand that the ability of research facilities and universities to commit to this research has never been limited by law or the government . The only thing that President Bush did was prevent the use of your tax dollars form being used to fund it. The reason the private sector will not fund this research is because they have found it leads them literally to a dead end. Embryonic stem cell research has not produced any positive results. The research requires the destruction of human life and has NEVER helped a single patient.

Daniel S. McConchie, vice-president of government affairs for Americans United for Life, wrote, “Ten years after the first isolation of embryonic stem cells, there is not a single disease that these cells can cure.” He adds, “Scientists have been conducting research on mouse embryonic stem cells for over 25 years and are yet unable to cure mice.”

So guess what? The private and university money has gone into ADULT stem cell research, induced pluripotent stem cells, and neonatal stem cells (found in the used placenta and umbilical cord) research --which can be obtained without doing the donor any harm-- and this kind of stem cell research (without killing days-old unborn children) is helping patients and saving lives now and has produced better results.

There is a safer way to produce Stem Cell Alternatives:

"Scientists have developed what appears to be a safer way to create a promising alternative to embryonic stem cells, boosting hopes that such cells could sidestep the moral and political quagmire that has hindered the development of a new generation of cures."
Indeed, this could well be the year--of ethically acceptable, far more promising venues than hollowing out human embryos.

Those of you who have followed the intense debate over embryonic stem cell research know that one of the most promising alternatives is to reprogram adult stem cells (typically skin cells)--to send them back in time, so to speak. The Washington Post's Rob Stein put it this way: to "coax skin cells into a state that appears biologically identical to embryonic stem cells." ...

Last year Andras Nagy and a team of scientists at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto started to investigate a new reprogramming method. Soon afterwards they began collaborating with a British group led by Keisuke Kaji at the University of Edinburgh, according to the Star. (Their findings were reported Sunday in a pair of complementary papers in the journal Nature.)

"In the new work, Nagy and his colleagues in Toronto and at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland instead used a sequence of DNA known as a transposon, which can insert itself into the genetic machinery of a cell," Stein reported. "In this case, the researchers used a transposon called 'piggyBac' to carry four genes that can transform mouse and human embryonic skin cells into iPS cells. After the conversion took place, the researchers removed the added DNA from the transformed cells using a specific enzyme."

"This double sequence of non-virus delivery and complete removal of growth factors is what makes the finding so important for future research on patients," the Star reported. "Nagy likens the process to a space shuttle ditching its rocket once the fuel has burned up and the shuttle has reached space."

Stein provided quotes from two well-known researchers.

"It's very significant," said George Q. Daley, a stem cell researcher at Children's Hospital in Boston. "I think it's a major step forward in realizing the value of these cells for medical research."

"It's very exciting work," agreed Robert Lanza, a stem cell researcher at Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester, Mass. "With the new work, we're only a hair's breadth away from the biggest prize in regenerative medicine -- a way to create patient-specific cells that are safe enough to use clinically."

Naturally, some, while praising the research, insisted that work on embryonic stem cells research should continue. But what is clear is that the field of ethically acceptable alternatives is progressing by leaps and bounds. The following quote says it all.

"Stem cell research that requires destroying embryos is going the way of the Model T," Richard M. Doerflinger of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops told Stein. "No administration that values science and medical progress over politics will want to divert funds now toward that increasingly obsolete and needlessly divisive approach."

Scientists used embryonic skin cells for this study, but are confident that it will work in adult cells as well.

Read this story about the use of adult stem cells to have regenerate bone mass. Read the story of a Blind Girl who can now see thanks to Umbilical Cord Based Adult Stem Cell Treatment.

Much of the press coverage anticipating Obama's order continued to ignore or downplay the striking advances made in recent years in research using stem cells from non-embryonic sources, including adult stem cells and reprogrammed adult body cells (iPSCs). Do No Harm, a coalition of scientists and researchers opposed to embryo-killing stem cell research, has posted a list of over 70 different disorders for which there have been one or more peer-reviewed scientific studies showing a measure of positive benefits in human patients.

AGAIN -In contrast, Embryonic stem cells can only be obtained by killing the embryo, and embryonic stem cells have yet to benefit a single human patient, and have proven most adept at generating tumors. A report last month that fetal stem cells caused a tumor in an Israeli boy who was given an experimental treatment for a rare brain disease.

However we don't hear these facts on the mainstream media - all we hear is from those who felt that the federal funding ban contributed to their personal tragedies. None of the reports on ABC or CBS mentioned the fact that researchers have found 73 different diseases that can be helped by adult stem cells, including Type 1 diabetes, spinal cord injuries and Parkinson’s disease. And again, embryonic stem cells haven’t produced a single positive result.

This breakthrough naturally begs the question: Can we stop destroying human embryos for their biological material now? Since embryos (just like fetuses and newborns and infants and adults) are human beings, embryonic stem cell research is unjust and unjustified. It is the killing of one person (actually many persons) in the theoretic attempt to save other people. Is it justifiable to kill one person in order to spare someone else from disease?

The embryonic stem cell research in particular (which is itself built on abortion) steals from tiny human beings the chance at life. They say to unborn children, "you're better off dead... the tiny cells from your unformed body are worth more to us than the entire sum of your future life... we have the choice, and so you don't get a chance." The value of individual human beings is sacrificed to the "greater good", which has been the historic basis for all sorts of social atrocities.

"It is a sad day when the federal government will fund research that exploits living members of the human species as raw material for research," said Douglas Johnson, a spokesman for the National Right to Life Committee. "Obama's order also places our society on a very steep, very slippery slope. Many researchers will not be satisfied to use only so-called surplus embryos. Many researchers are already demanding federal support for research in which human embryos would be created for the specific purpose of research, through human cloning and other methods, and there was nothing in the President's remarks today to limit NIH to the use of so-called surplus embryos created in IVF clinics." ...

Obama also issued a second directive purporting to free federally sponsored scientific research from the influence of "ideology." Johnson commented, "Giving an absolutely free hand to elites of specialists can result in the ideology of the specialists being imposed on society as a whole. Scientific endeavors that utilize human subjects or otherwise pose dangers to innocent human life must always be subject to oversight by society as a whole, through regular democratic processes." (info from National Right to Life)

"President Obama's new executive order on embryonic stem cell research is a sad victory of politics over science and ethics," said Cardinal Justin Rigali, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities.

"This action is morally wrong because it encourages the destruction of innocent human life, treating vulnerable human beings as mere products to be harvested. It also disregards the values of millions of American taxpayers who oppose research that requires taking human life. Finally, it ignores the fact that ethically sound means for advancing stem cell science and medical treatments are readily available and in need of increased support." ....

...."Science makes it clear that from fertilization a new human being exists, distinct from the father or mother, with his or her own internal principle directed toward continuing development towards adulthood. ... Providing public funding to support research on cells obtained through the destruction of human beings, especially at their most vulnerable stages, is an affront to the dignity of all persons, and beneath the moral stature of the United States of America."

Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, accused Obama of ignoring social justice and human rights: "Medical science has confirmed that an embryo is human life regardless of President Obama's lack of education and understanding of the issue.

"Mr. Obama has said in the past it is 'above his pay grade' to know when human life begins," said Mahoney. "I would suggest as part of the billions spent on the stimulus package that the President's salary be raised so he could further his adult education to understand the basic facts of biology and social justice."

info from: http://pro.lifewithchrist.org/permalink/47416.html

The Nazi scientists who experimented with eugenics or measuring the human reactions of subjects as they froze to death, were practicing science: ghoulish, even devilish science to be sure, but science nonetheless. Setting science above moral considerations is the age-old myth of neutrality, and the subtle self-deception of one who mistakes his view for objective truth.

Taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for experiments that require the destruction of human life!

Obama has used the president's pen to create and damn millions of innocent children around the world to death, all in his bizarre mutilation of the concept of "humanity."

If Americans will go along with this, they will go along with anything!

If life itself is not sacred, then nothing on earth is sacred anymore!

Thomas Jefferson -"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever."

President Obama not long ago told the American people that he would support policies to reduce abortions, but today he is effectively guaranteeing more abortions by funding experiments that destroy human life.

Journalism in major media outlets regarding President Obama's recent decision (3/9/09) to force taxpayers to pay for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research (HESCR) was so poorly reported. Read this analysis of what you likely either missed or were misinformed about if the mainstream media was your only source for information: 9 Things the Media Messed Up About the Obama Stem Cell Story
The media "should attempt to present the pertinent facts in any given story to help the public gain a well-rounded understanding of the issues at hand. This simply didn't happen in the Obama/stem cell story."