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Stem Cells: Dr. Oz on 'Oprah'
Posted by Tom Hoopes
Saturday, April 04, 2009 3:13 AM
Here’s Josh Brahm explaining this “Oprah” spot, in which Dr. Oz comes out against embryonic stem-cell research on scientific grounds (Warning: In it he handles, pokes and slices a real human brain).
Catholics remember sadly that Michael J. Fox was a huge proponent of clone-and-kill stem-cell research. How ironic that President Obama, who claims to want to “follow science” is funding precisely the kind of research that the medical community is abandoning. See Josh Brahm’s essay “9 Things the Media Messed Up About the Obama Stem Cell Story.”
On the “Oprah” show, Dr. Mehmet Oz handles the brain of a 50-year-old male (“a member of our studio audience,” he jokes) explains where Parkinson’s disease damage lies, and how stem-cell therapy is supposed to work, regenerating brain tissue.
Then, he announces: “Now, I’m going to say something that’s going to be a bit provocative.”
“I think, Oprah, the stem-cell debate is dead, and I’ll tell you why.”
Oprah looks on with a certain horror (she knows the political ramifications) as he explains: “The problem with embryonic stem cells is that embryonic stem cells come from embryos, like all of us were made from embryos. And those cells can become any cell in the body. But it’s very hard to control them, and so they can become cancer.”
He then explains the advances in pluripotent stem cells (he doesn’t use their name) that have been made in recent years. He defends his scientific credentials by saying he believes the right-to-life fight (he doesn’t call it that) over stem cells has slowed down research. But he says that, within “single digit years” moral, adult stem cell therapy (he doesn’t call it that either) will find a cure for Parkinson’s.
Whether that’s true or TV hype or not, I’m not sure. See Brahm’s commentary in the video.
Here’s how Tim Drake reported the new developments in the Register:
“The big news of the past two years is that we have other sources of pluripotent stem cells that do not involve human embryos,” said Legionary Father Thomas Berg.
Recently, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles were able to create motor neurons using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which are embryonic-like cells reverted to a pluripotent state from their adult state. Such cells could hold promise for treating such diseases as ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease).
British and Canadian teams have recently honed the process for making pluripotent iPS cells. According to a report in Nature, the cells are reprogrammed by inserting four genes, which are removed once the process is complete, thus making it even more likely that soon these cells could be safely used for human therapeutic applications.
Earlier attempts at creating iPS cells, though promising, had the drawback of leaving genetic alterations in the cells which, if transplanted into human subjects, could cause tumor formation or genetic abnormalities.
Recent inroads, however, pioneered by the Medical Research Council Center for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, do not use viruses to transport the genes. Rather, an electronic shock opens a temporary “gate” in the cell membrane, allowing the DNA fragment to pass through.
“We have found a highly efficient and safe way to create new cells for the human body which avoids the challenge of immune rejection,” said Andras Nagy, a scientist at the University of Toronto who is leading the research work on the technique.
Such advances also avoid the numerous moral and scientific problems that plague embryonic stem-cell research.
Obama’s executive order not only rescinds former President George W. Bush’s limits on embryonic stem-cell research, but also rescinds the previous order’s explicit required funding for alternative methods, such as iPS.
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