Aussies for Adult Stem Cells

ARCHDIOCESE OF SYDNEY, March 25 — The Archdiocese of Sydney, Australia, has awarded a $50,000 research grant to Griffith University, which is to use the funds to study adult stem cells.

Specifically, Prof. Alan MackaySim's research team is looking into therapies using stem cells extracted from patients’ nasal lining to replace those lost to Parkinson's disease.

The archdiocese says on its Web site that it selected Mackay-Sim's team from among several applicants because its project “is of first-class scientific merit, markedly original and has good long-term therapeutic possibilities.”

Arkansas Bans All Cloning

THE WASHINGTON TIMES, March 25 — Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has signed into law a bill to ban the cloning of humans for any purpose, including medical research.

The statewide measure passed the Democrat-controlled House by an 88-5 vote and the Democrat-controlled Senate by a vote of 34-0, according to the Times. The bill was patterned after national legislation sponsored by Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan.

Source for Adult Stem Cells

THE OTTAWA CITIZEN, March 25 — A $1.5 million project will link medical researchers across Canada in an unprecedented attempt to learn whether the brains of stroke patients can repair themselves with stem cells from their own bodies.

Twenty-five scientists in Ottawa and seven other Canadian cities hope to train stem cells from diverse parts of the body to travel to the brain's injured area, form themselves into brain cells, connect with other neurons — and actually think, reports the Ottawa daily.

At the University of Calgary, the progress has already begun. Rats have grown back working brain cells — and regained the ability to move their legs — after suffering brain damage similar to that caused by a stroke.

No to Taiwanese Euthanasia

TAIWAN NEWS, March 20 — Taiwanese doctors have spoken out against euthanasia.

In a public hearing before that country's legislature, the physicians suggested that hospice care be provided for terminally ill patients until death occurs naturally.

The hearing, convened to explore the feasibility of assisted death, was held by the Judiciary Committee of the Legislative Yuan. It came about in response to a leukemia patient, Chang Chien-chih, who appealed earlier to the legislature for the legalization of euthanasia.

Liao Yi-lin, a member of the Taiwan Medical Association, said that euthanasia runs against the principles of “self-determination, no-harm and good deeds.”