Michael J. Fox, Stem Cells & Brain Tumors in Parkinson's Patients
Update: If you are from Missouri you must read this, posted at Allman's Electric Stove, on Amendment 2 and cloning:
The Human Embryo Cloning and Destruction InitiativeMy heart goes out to Micheal J. Fox.
The McCaskill/Fox/Amendmend 2 ad aired last night during the second game of the World Series (see Smudgegate) here in St. Louis. It is very powerful. Here is that ad:
Fox appears to be suffering terribly. The ad goes straight to your heart and you hope that something can be done for this courageous young man.
But it doesn't look like embryonic stem cells will be his answer.
This article also came out yesterday from Reuters:
Stem cells might cause brain tumors, study finds
Injecting human embryonic stem cells into the brains of Parkinson's disease patients may cause tumors to form, U.S. researchers reported on Sunday.** The Anchoress has much more on this scientific development and the McCaskill ad.
Steven Goldman and colleagues at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York said human stem cells injected into rat brains turned into cells that looked like early tumors.
Writing in the journal Nature Medicine, the researchers said the transplants clearly helped the rats, but some of the cells started growing in a way that could eventually lead to a tumor.
Various types of cell transplants are being tried to treat Parkinson's disease, caused when dopamine-releasing cells die in the brain.
This key neurotransmitter, or message-carrying chemical, is involved in movement and Parkinson's patients suffer muscle dysfunction that can often lead to paralysis. Drugs can slow the process for a while but there is no cure.
This is not the first time that sciencists have halted embryonic stem cell research for Parkinson's sufferers.
And, the Anchoress is not the only one who thinks Michael J. Fox is being used by McCaskill.
Personally...
My thoughts and prayers go out to Micheal J. Fox.
Oh... and Claire McCaskill is a skunk for using this sick man.
You can help Jim Talent out here.
Wizbang and The Strata Sphere have much more on the advertisement.
Kathryn Jean Lopez says the ad crosses the line.
Carol Platt Liebau, a native St. Louisan, sees it as crass and misleading.
posted by Gateway Pundit at 10/23/2006 01:53:00 PM
10 Comments:
I had planned to vote Yes on Amendment 2 until I saw this awful ad.
Yes, I am a Missouri voter.
Completely off-topic, but...
Happy second anniversary, GatewayPundit!
Keep up the great work. I enjoy your site immensely.
Thanks, Scrutinator. I forgot about this myself.
My grandmother died of Parkinson's. I grew up never hearing her speak clearly because by the time I was old enough to she couldn't. Her food had to be cut up for her and she couldn't drink out of a glass without a straw. Michael J. Fox is no where near the state she was in the last 25 years of her life.
I know enough to say that even if the kinds of treatments from embryonic stem cells that Michael J. Fox lusts for were available to my grandmother she would outright refuse them. Why? Because she has too much repsect for life to allow one to be destroyed so that she might live.
One of the best ways to judge a society as a whole is to observe how they treat their most innocent and helpless members. If they do not care about their right to life then eventually they will not care about your right to life, either.
Now, here is a question for Mr. Fox. You have only two answers to choose from-Yes or No.
If it were found that you could be totally cured of your illness by using cells from your child, but in order to get those cells your child will die would you still demand that treatment? Would your desire to live without Parkinson's make you want to put your children to death?
So, would you do it? Answer Yes or No.
BTW-Save the "shades of grey" stuff because that is just a way to weasel out of answering the question.
Although I usually agree with you, with all due respect, I must beg to differ. If scientists are not free to conduct the research, they cannot resolve the questions. A single study is not conclusive.
Nahanni- Sorry to hear about the grandparent. I am sure it was difficult for everyone.
Don't be, hun.
One finds that things of this nature are a part of life. It is how you handle them that reveals your true character.
Right now I am not impressed with Mr. Fox's character. But that is common with those of his ilk. They simply can not face the fact that life is not the "Hollywood" vision that they have of it. Where no one grows old, where no one dies, where there is no unhappiness, where there is no hatred and where there is always a happy ending.
No, reality is a harsh mistress and the world is full of dangers both great and small. They have lived in this fantasy land in their minds for so long that when reality does come up to bite them in the arse they run around like a screaming seven year old pleading to make it all go away. I got news for them, life don't work like that. So they get desperate for something, anything that will make all the bad things go away.
Nahanni-
What if we could win the war in Iraq by killing your child? Would you let us?
Just curious.
Xanthippias,
I have over 20 nieces, nephews, cousins and friends all in armed forces and in Persian Gulf region. Want to know something, Xan? All of them have reenlisted within the last 3 years.
Now run along back to the fever swamps of the "reality-based community" and quit bothering the adults, little boy.
One other thing, Xan.
You would not be capable of dealing with a loved one having something like Parkinson's. You are too self centered and immature to do so. Not surprising considering that you are nothing but a petulant overgrown toddler.
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