Saint Matthew's

One of the biggest arguments against use of embryos in stem cell research is that in order to get the cells, one would have to kill an innocent life. Those in the religious community have condemned this horrific research and urged continued use of adult stem cells since no one has to die. Scientists have moaned that the prospects of embryonic stem cell research outweighed the ethical and moral concerns people like me had.

But adult stem cells have been proven to be more effective in dealing with diseases. More the 70 disease treatments have come from adult stem cells while nothing has come from embryonic research to date.

However, the use of embryos may be a thing of the past, God-willing. According to a report in this morning’s New York Times, a new procedure has been discovered that can literally convert human skin cells into embryonic stem calls – all by adding 4 genes.

All they had to do, the scientists said, was add four genes. The genes reprogrammed the chromosomes of the skin cells, making the cells into blank slates that should be able to turn into any of the 220 cell types of the human body, be it heart, brain, blood or bone. Until now, the only way to get such human universal cells was to pluck them from a human embryo several days after fertilization, destroying the embryo in the process.

The reprogrammed skin cells may yet prove to have subtle differences from embryonic stem cells that come directly from human embryos, and the new method includes potentially risky steps, like introducing a cancer gene. But stem cell researchers say they are confident that it will not take long to perfect the method and that today’s drawbacks will prove to be temporary.

If this procedure proves scientifically solid – and it looks like it – there may never be a need to destroy life anymore in order to save it.

…liberals who were in vast support of the $450 Million bonding program have to come up with an excuse. And what have they come up with?

They didn’t create an effective marketing campaign.

Oh, I kid you not.

On Tuesday, New Jersey voters rejected a $450 Million bond act proposed by the State Legislature and Governor Jon Corzine that would be used exclusively to support stem cell research in the state. This is a monumental accomplishment because never in the history of New Jersey have the people rejected these types of ballot spending initiatives.

Since this ballot act was rejected, those who supported the ballot initiative had to come up with an excuse. They are blaming a bad marketing campaign that would have beaten back those mean, right wingers who want to see people suffer from terrible diseases.

The fact is that the so-called right wing wasn’t running on the fact that in order to study embryonic stem cells, you need lots of abortions fertilized embryos. No, they were fighting the huge cost of the bill, namely bonding $450 Million.

Anyone who knows anything about New Jersey knows that the state is basically bankrupt. We have no money.

* Our state public pension system is a disaster, a system that politicians of both parties have used as a slush fund. It so underfunded that when people actually start retiring in big numbers, New Jersey is going to be crushed under the payout costs promised by generous Governors and State Legislatures of the past.

* Ask anyone in New Jersey about property taxes, and they will rant. We have the highest property taxes in the nation. Here in Bergen County, property taxes are insane. Speaking with a retired homeowner a couple of weeks ago, she was brought to tears when she thought of her $10,000 annual tax bill.

* The State Legislature and Governor enacted a law that gave so-called “property tax relief” to homeowners last year. One homeowner here at Saint Matthew’s called it a shell game. They said that the Legislature and Governor basically robbed Peter (the state budget) to pay Paul (the homeowners), but then added spending to the budget that ultimately is going to raise taxes.

* And finally, the state budget is billions upon billions of dollars in the hole even before anyone considers “property tax relief” bills or anything else this year. The budget is being crushed under the high cost of debt. And, oh, who can forget that our transportation trust fund is broke – politicians used that money to spend more and stave off tax increases.

The fact is the people of New Jersey couldn’t accept the fact that another $450 Million would be piled on top of their already high tax bills. I would have loved for it be that people were sickened by embryonic stem cell research, but that really wasn’t the case this year.

UPDATED

The State of New Jersey is one step closer to bonding $450 Million to fund 10 years of stem cell research, including studying embryonic stem cells and their “potential” on curing diseases.

Even though embryonic stems cells have shown no capacity to do anything in terms of curing or dealing with diseases, our State Legislature doesn’t seem to care.

Why propose wasting money on studying something that has shown zero promise in actually curing disease?

Why not spend additional money on stem cell research that actually does work and has shown to reduce the impact of more than 70 different diseases, like, say, adult stem cells research?

Including this embryonic stem cell funding line item in the bond request means that a lot of Christians will be voting against this bond act.

President George W. Bush is set to veto the latest attempt by members of Congress to end limits on the use of embryonic stems cells in research. The President has vowed to veto this legislation contending that if the bill becomes law, the U.S. would be, for the first time, sponsoring the creation of human life just for the purpose of killing it.

Good for him.

I’ll say it again – why doesn’t the Congress support the use of adult stem cells that is showing a heck of a lot more progress in battling diseases?

The controversy over the Michael J. Fox political ads has overshadowed the real issue: are embryonic stem cells showing any kind of promise in helping cure or ease disease?

The answer is no.

There is a vast amount of evidence that proves advances in medicine when it comes to stem cells have been in the use of adult stem cells. Want to see proof?

Download this PDF file that lists all the diseases that have seen cure and treatment advances by using adult stem cells. And you’ll see just how few advances have been made using embryonic stem cells. Too bad the media doesn’t want to report this.

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One of the most contentious debates pitting religion against science is in the area of embryonic stem cell research. Scientists contend that research that includes usage of stem cells from embryos could help people with terrible diseases, like Parkinson’s Disease and spinal cord injury. No one with a conscience would oppose such research in its face, an argument from supports of this research say.

However, the church does oppose this research. It is not because the church hates people who are ill. It is because the use of fetal tissue from aborted fetuses — this is human life that has been discarded. It should be cared for like any other human being. But central to our opposition is that Fifth Commandment – You shall not murder. Sadly, fetuses that are aborted and discarded are used for this research.

This doesn’t mean the church opposes stem cell research. On the contrary, adult stem cells appear to offer greater amounts of scientific hope for certain diseases. I’m not saying it, other scientists are. This is the type of research all Christians should be supporting. When it comes to embryonic stem cells, we have to think twice.

Why do I bring this up? Our church received a telephone message from someone asking our opinion on this matter. The woman – who doesn’t live in our community, mind you – wanted the church to actively protest against embryonic stem cell research here in New Jersey. Oh, and they wanted to know if we could donate money to them…

I came across a political cartoon in the Conservative Chronicle that tackles this issue.