Perkins on Point: Tony Perkins Responds to Obama's Executive Order on Embryonic Stem Cell Research

On Monday the President took American further into the Brave New World by not only expanding taxpayer funded research using human embryos, but by opening the door to human cloning and the creation of human embryos for experimentation.

The order comes at a time when an ethical alternative, adult stem cell research, is producing amazing results. Over 70 different medical conditions, like Leukemia, Type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, lupus, sickle cell anemia just to name a few are being treated with adult stem cells.




Whats the record of successfully treatments with embryonic stem cells? Zero!

The ink on President Obama's order was barely dry before politicians started calling for repeal of the Dickey-Wicker amendment, a law that prevents federal funding for any research that harms or destroys human embryos, whether created through in vitro fertilization, cloning, or other means.

Apparently some folks feel it's not enough to provide dollars for research on stem cells extracted from embryos or clones with private funds, they now want taxpayer money to create and destroy the embryos in the first place!

What can we do about this controversy?

What if we could create embryonic stem cells without using embryos? Well, researchers can. Since November 2007, Japanese and U.S. scientists have used reprogramming to turn normal cells into embryonic-like stem cells that are identical to embryonic stem cells, without using human embryos, eggs, or cloning.

Researchers call these cells induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs. They function just like the human embryonic variety but they genetically match the patients - eliminating the problem of immune rejection.

How significant is this alternative? When the creator of Dolly the cloned sheep, Ian Wilmut, turns away from human cloning to pursue this kind of research, you know were on to something big.
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Mr. President, let me be clear, we support good science. Science that is both ethical and effective. Can we really expect good to ultimately come from that which is at best morally questionable? Why not take the limited tax dollars we presently have in this struggling economy and use them to build upon works adult stem cells?

For more, visit www.frc.org

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[Maxdwolf]

Embryonic stem cells are no good, but it's exciting that we've found a way to create them artificially?

Why have I seen no attacks on the source of all these embryos, the fertility clinics. Stopping the research won't stop the killing of all these embryos.