Amarillo College Ranger

Issue date: 2/8/07 Section: Religion and Politics

Why is there so much hype about stem cells these days? Most people support the research in one form or another. The way a person feels about the issue usually reflects his or her stance on human life.

There are two forms of stem cells: adult and embryonic. Adult stem cells are those collected from adult tissues, bone marrow, umbilical cord blood and human placenta. Adult stem cell research dates back to the 1960s.

Embryonic stem cells are gathered from the fetal tissue of a non-living embryo. Collecting these cells requires the destruction of an embryo, making it a hot ethical issue.

Although scientists continue to experiment with embryonic stem cells in the laboratory, no effective discoveries to cure or treat diseases have been made. Through adult stem cell research, however, there have been 71 life-changing discoveries to help treat 26 types of cancers, 15 auto-immune diseases, two cardiovascular illnesses, three types of immunodeficiencies, three neural degenerative diseases and injuries, 10 blood conditions and five other metabolic disorders.

The use of adult stem cells also has been beneficial to corneal regeneration, limb gangrene, surface wound healing, jawbone replacement, skull bone repair, chronic liver failure and liver cirrhosis as well as end-stage bladder disease.

In January, the Democratic-controlled House passed a bill to further embryonic stem cell research using tax dollars. Because the bill passed by only a 253-174 margin, they did not have the two-thirds margin needed to overturn the veto made by President Bush. I'm glad we have a president who acts on his moral convictions and doesn't use taxpayer dollars to encourage the destruction of human life.

When so many discoveries have been made using adult stem cells, it seems like a no-brainer to put time, money and effort into that type of research. I believe hard-earned tax dollars would be better spent on something that already has yielded so many promising results. Furthermore, the use of adult stem cells is free of ethical conflict.

It seems to me that those who favor embryonic stem cell research are not hoping for medical cures and discoveries.

If that were the case, they would prefer to further adult stem cell research, because it already has accomplished much of what the hopes were for embryonic stem cells. Instead, they keep their fingers crossed that a discovery will be made on their side to promote their pro-abortion agendas. Because the progress with embryonic stem cell research has remained stagnant, the destruction of human life for the cause is unjustifiable.



**www.foxnews.com, www.stemcellresearch.org and www.religioustolerance.org contributed to this report.

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