NewsBriefs

Baltimore, MD – Researchers from Osiris Therapeutics in Baltimore and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston were recently surprised by their mesenchymal stem cells (or MSCs for short) findings. Adult stem cells such as MSCs, which are non-controversial, do not face the risk of immune system rejection when they are transplanted from one patient to another.

Researchers were able to give 100 people, some of whom were cancer patients who needed new bone marrow, MSCs donated by members of their family. None of these transplants have been rejected, even though some took place four years ago.

Researchers hope to be able to use MSCs in order to help individuals with damaged hearts as early as next year.

Research with stem cells from adults and umbilical cords continues to show remarkable cures while research on stem cells from human embryos has yet to cure a single human being.

Lansing, MI – The work of prolife people to save abandoned children paid off for Michigan in 2001. A year after the Safe Delivery of Newborns Act took effect on January 1, 2001, 12 newborn children have been safely surrendered and placed in adoptive homes.

The primary goal of the Safe Delivery Act is to prevent injury or death of abandoned infants who may not be discovered until hours after their abandonment. The law, which allows a parent to anonymously surrender their newborn up to 72-hours after birth has proven a success. Twelve children, who might have otherwise been abandoned or left for dead, are thriving in adoptive or foster-care homes.

Denver, CO – The state health department of Colorado recently announced its plans to stop funding Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains when an audit discovered that they were subsidizing the rent of a supposedly separate Planned Parenthood affiliate (Planned Parenthood Services Corp.) that performs abortions. This discovery means that Planned Parenthood will lose $381,956 in the next year.

In 1999, Colorado's governor Bill Owens determined that Colorado's Constitution bars the use of taxpayer money to subsidize abortions. In order to keep its state funds, Planned Parenthood created a separate entity, Planned Parenthood Services Corp., that would perform abortions while Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains would not perform abortion.

New York, NY – In a recent article in the New York Times, a number of scientists admitted that some researchers exaggerated the promise of embryonic stem cell research. Scientists who hoped for federal funding of embryonic stem cell research promised revolutionary treatments and cures in the near future. Some of these scientists have revealed that they misled the public.

"We're being forced into taking extreme positions by the whole need to try and convince people of the need to go ahead," said Dr. Brigid Hogan of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

Dr. Gail Martin, a researcher at the University of California at San Francisco, said, "The expectations have been raised a little higher than perhaps is appropriate. It became politicized and tied up in the abortion debate."

These scientists and others are worried about the backlash on embryonic stem cell research when the therapies and cures, that were promised, fail to appear. Many people were duped into believing that they or their friends and families could be cured from various ailments but research in this field is not certain and possible cures aren't even on the horizon.

"There's almost certainly going to be a backlash. These are novel, unproven therapies." said Dr. James A. Thomson, the University of Wisconsin scientist who first isolated human embryonic stem cells.

Lansing, MI – On January 3, 2002, Governor John Engler signed a package of bills that will help improve end-of-life care in Michigan. This legislation will improve pain management as well as offer hospice alternatives which will help provide more positive, life-affirming alternatives for those facing death. Much of the legislation is designed to encourage people to tell their families how they want to be treated as they near death.

Some of the highlights of this legislation include: giving patients information they need to decide on their medical care, raising awareness and knowledge about pain management and treatment options, removing barriers to prescribing medicine for pain, making health-care professionals aware of patients' wishes and emergency medical information, and making nursing home residents more aware of the availability of hospice care.

 

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