Salon.com > Stem cells

Gov. Rick Perry underwent stem cell therapy

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:05:00 +0000

Rick Perry, the Texas governor who may soon enter the GOP presidential race, is an outspoken critic of stem cell research. Earlier this year he claimed that under the Obama administration, stem cell research was "turning the remains of unborn children into nothing more than raw material."

It is perhaps surprising to learn, then, that Perry himself was injected with stem cells last month to treat a recurring back injury, as the Texas Tribune revealed. However, Perry was treated with adult stem cells from his own tissue, not embryonic stem cells.

The Texas Tribune points out that Perry's procedure was nonetheless experimental and controversial: it isn’t FDA approved, has mixed evidence of success and can cost tens of thousands of dollars (and is not covered by insurance). Researchers have also said that "despite the great potential adult stem cells may have, so far they've seen nothing more definitive than the so-called 'placebo effect'."

On Wednesday, a spokesperson for Perry said that the governor's "innovative" procedure had been "successful" and The Tribune notes that Perry's Emerging Technology Fund has already pledged millions of dollars to adult stem cell research.

Justice Department will appeal ruling in stem cell case

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 23:05:00 +0000

The Obama administration will appeal a court ruling that undercut its efforts to expand stem cell research, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

The appeal is expected this week, said spokesman Matthew Miller.

On Monday, a federal judge ruled that the stem cell research violated the will of Congress in prohibiting the destruction of human embryos.

National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins said dozens of studies of promising stem cell therapies -- about $54 million worth -- would have to stop because of the court ruling that temporarily forbids any additional money from being granted.

Monday's ruling will "drive the best scientific minds into work less likely to yield treatments," added Sean Tipton of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. "It will be incredibly disruptive."

Stem cells reverse blindness caused by burns

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 21:30:00 +0000

Dozens of people who were blinded or otherwise suffered severe eye damage when they were splashed with caustic chemicals had their sight restored with transplants of their own stem cells -- a stunning success for the burgeoning cell-therapy field, Italian researchers reported Wednesday.

The treatment worked completely in 82 of 107 eyes and partially in 14 others, with benefits lasting up to a decade so far. One man whose eyes were severely damaged more than 60 years ago now has near-normal vision.

"This is a roaring success," said ophthalmologist Dr. Ivan Schwab of the University of California, Davis, who had no role in the study -- the longest and largest of its kind.

Stem cell transplants offer hope to the thousands of people worldwide every year who suffer chemical burns on their corneas from heavy-duty cleansers or other substances at work or at home.

The approach would not help people with damage to the optic nerve or macular degeneration, which involves the retina. Nor would it work in people who are completely blind in both eyes, because doctors need at least some healthy tissue that they can transplant.

How the Super Bowl won me over

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 19:01:00 +0000

In 1977, the Oakland Raiders finally made it to the Super Bowl. I was living at the beach that year, temporary roommates with my best friend, Stephen Salinger, a life-long Raiders fan. He made food, invited friends in, cheered through the game and celebrated for days after the Raiders' decisive 32-14 win against the Minnesota Vikings.

I went surfing.

He couldn't believe it. I had to be the only man in America not watching the game. It was perverse, it was pathological. It was unpatriotic. But there was a swell running and, in a favorite phrase of mine at the time, football was just "guys jumping into piles" anyway. I thought I was "above" football, but the truth is I was a petty little snob from an Upper East Side, socialist-leaning family. (My mother voted for Adlai Stevenson. Twice.) We went to antiwar demonstrations and Pete Seeger concerts (yes, we sang along), not football games. Running photographs at half-time from Shea Stadium to the pressroom at the Daily News, years before, I had gotten a closer brush with the sport. I came away impressed by the sheer size of the players and the gladiatorial brutality of the game itself. But I wasn't inspired to watch.

What would Jesus do with a frozen embryo?

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:12:00 +0000

After my first reading of a Chicago Tribune article about parents deciding what to do with leftover embryos following IVF treatment, I was so confused I had to consult my smart friend Laura. I IM'ed her the link and asked, "Am I crazy, or does this article totally take it on faith (ha!) that everyone deciding what to do with an embryo is religious?" Laura's verdict? "Man, those babies in the picture are cute. Especially the yawning one." Also, "You are definitely not crazy. This is an article about Christians struggling with this decision, which is very interesting, but nowhere in the article does the writer specify that."

A Nobel prize for a Bush critic

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:55:00 +0000

In his story in today's New York Times about the three American winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine, science reporter Nicholas Wade tells us a quite a bit about cell biology and the relevance of the discoveries made by Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak for understanding cancer and the process of aging. We also learn some interesting tidbits about why female scientists are particularly prominent in the field of telomeres research.

But one piece of biographical information about Elizabeth Blackburn was left out -- her brave role in exposing the charade of George W. Bush's "President's Council on Bioethics."

Let's outsource the story to Nick Anthis, at the Scientific Activist.

Christianists gone wild

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:49:00 +0000

One-time Bush propagandist turned Obama-supporter Andrew Sullivan is in high dudgeon at reports that the new Republican Party platform will ban all public and private funding of embryonic stem cell research. The news comes from Stephen Spruiell, a contributor to the National Review's group blog the Corner, who offered an eyewitness description of back-and forth over an amendment to the existing platform earlier this week, and concluded, with an air of what Sullivan likes to call "Christianist" triumphalism, that:

"The 2008 Republican Platform calls for a ban on all embryonic stem-cell research, public or private."
Lefty bloggers have been quick to pounce on the news, as well they should, since, if true, it represent a remarkable extension of Republican big-government interference in the domain of science and medicine in the United States. Hillary supporters still looking longingly at John McCain should take note -- this is what today's GOP is all about, McCain's protestations otherwise notwithstanding.
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Frozen embryo v. state of California

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 18:18:00 +0000

In federal court tomorrow, trial lawyer Martin Palmer will, as he sees it, defend Mary Scott Doe from enslavement. There's just one teeny-tiny, microscopic problem: Mary is an embryo. Palmer is the founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Preborn Children (in other words, the NAAPC -- what a comedian) and is deeply troubled by the state-run California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), which funds stem cell research. So, naturally, he's suing.

In 2005, Palmer filed a lawsuit in Riverside, Calif., representing the so-called Mary Scott Doe -- again, a frozen embryo -- against Robert Klein, chairman of CIRM, arguing that embryos deserve equal protection under the law and that stem cell research amounts to slavery. At the time, Palmer told LifeNews.com that he chose "Scott" as the embryo's middle name because it is "reminiscent of the Dred Scott case in which the US Supreme Court decided that the black man was not person but property."

What would Jesus veto?

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:32:00 +0000

George W. Bush this morning quietly vetoed legislation that would have expanded health coverage for children by increasing the federal tax on cigarettes. The bill passed with large bipartisan majorities in both the House and the Senate. The president vetoed it today behind closed doors, with no ceremony and no press present.

It was only the fourth time the man who ran as a "compassionate conservative" has exercised his veto power.

The other three:

July 19, 2006: Bush vetoes a bill that would have lifted restriction on the use of federal funds for research on stem-cell lines derived from embryos that would otherwise be destroyed by fertility clinics.

Test-tube nation

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 10:24:00 +0000

After a year of trying to get pregnant in the time-tested manner (intercourse with mate, slow jams and cocktails optional), Beth Kohl discovered that, like 6.1 million of her fellow Americans, she was clinically infertile. So she and her husband, Gary, then 29 and 32 years old, respectively, embarked on a different, but increasingly common, baby-making journey -- one using assisted reproductive technology (ART) to conceive.

But along with prenatal vitamins and baby-name books, Kohl found a mess of ethical questions. Why spend so much time and money conceiving bio-kids when many already-born babies could benefit from the same resources? How many embryos is it OK to transfer, given that later a mother might be faced with the decision to selectively reduce (read: abort) one or more of her fetuses? Are IVF kids the same -- healthwise, soulwise -- as naturally conceived children? What about the risk of pregnancy complications, premature birth, and the host of long-term problems that come along with them? Can "man-made" babies ever be reconciled with religious faith? And the biggie: What should would-be parents do with their leftover embryos?

What else we’re reading

Sat, 13 Jan 2007 00:00:00 +0000

The Boston Globe: An employee at the Massachusetts State Police crime lab bungled several rape convictions by failing to report DNA matches before the statute of limitations ran out. The unnamed employee has been suspended, which is a good start. Unfortunately, it's too late to actually right what the DNA lab fouled up.

Associated Press: Two women were arrested in Chicago for pimping underage girls on Craigslist.

Feminist Daily Newswire: In an exciting and overdue development, the House of Representatives approved the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007, widening research restrictions on embryonic stem cells. "[I]ndividuals seeking fertility treatment would be able to donate to researchers those embryos that were in excess of their clinical need."

Laura Bush says it’s easy to manipulate — then shows how it’s done

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 11:31:00 +0000

C-SPAN gave Laura Bush a chance over the weekend to disassociate herself from Rush Limbaugh's claim that Michael J. Fox faked symptoms of Parkinson's disease in an ad for Democratic Senate candidate Claire McCaskill.

Think Progress has the first lady's response:

"Well, I dont have any idea about any of those," she said. "I mean, I've watched on television just like you have. But the fact is, President Bush is the only president that authorized funding for stem cell research. And, you know, it's an issue that it's easy to try to manipulate peoples feelings about and I understand that. My dad died of Alzheimer's. You know, there's nothing I would like more than to think there was a cure for Alzheimer's -- and especially before I get to be the age he is, but knowing also how he suffered. But you know, it's always easy to manipulate people's feelings, especially when you are talking about the diseases that are so difficult."

Or, say, when you think people aren't paying attention.

Rush Limbaugh, Michael J. Fox and the cruelty within

Fri, 27 Oct 2006 16:46:00 +0000

If the Mark Foley scandal has exposed some Republicans as hypocrites on family values, will the Michael J. Fox-Rush Limbaugh dust-up out some others as just being mean?

We'd like to think so. We're not much for ad hominem attacks, but it's really pretty impossible to watch Limbaugh mock Fox for his stem-cell TV spot without thinking that Rush is pretty rotten at the core. Limbaugh didn't just suggest that Fox was faking the symptoms of Parkinson's disease in his advertisement for Claire McCaskill; he took things a step further by acting out the shaking himself -- all while saying that Fox was the one behaving in a "shameless" way.

Limbaugh says that Democrats always do this: They trot out someone who's a victim of something or other and thereby make it impossible to engage in reasoned debate. He's not the first one to make that claim; it's the same argument Ann Coulter makes about family members who lost loved ones on 9/11 and have the audacity to say that they wish the Bush administration were doing more to stop the next terrorist attack.

Eggs for a good cause

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 00:01:00 +0000

Here's an interesting idea from an article on Australian news site Adelaide Now: Young women with diseases like Type 1 diabetes and cystic fibrosis should donate their eggs for embryonic stem cell research.

The proposal comes from a group of experts, including Melbourne University genetics professor Bob Williamson, who seek "to lobby MPs ahead of a conscience vote on whether a ban on therapeutic cloning should be overturned." Williamson's point is that since it takes a lot of eggs to create a cloned embryo -- current estimates range from 20 to 200 -- it's going to be tough to come up with enough eggs to use if and when Australia's research ban is overturned. He therefore advocates encouraging (not forcing) women with applicable diseases to donate eggs for research.

"As a starting point, I think it's totally appropriate ethically to look to people who have a disease in their family as the first people to participate in the research," he's quoted as saying. "Who is more logical to participate in research in type-one diabetes than young women who have type-one diabetes?"

No, wait, it’s not murder after all

Tue, 25 Jul 2006 12:43:00 +0000

When George W. Bush vetoed legislation expanding federal funding for embryonic stem cell research last week, White House press secretary Tony Snow said that the president considers such research to be "murder."

Never mind.

At Monday's White House press briefing, Snow retracted the "murder" charge, saying he had "overstepped" his "brief" by using the M-word and that, in the process, he had caused unnecessary trouble for White House chief of staff Josh Bolten, who said many words but offered few coherent answers when Tim Russert asked him about the claim during a "Meet the Press" interview Sunday.

Snow's retraction:

Question: Tony, not to bring up last week's news, but the issue of whether embryonic stem cell research is murder came up yesterday on "Meet the Press." You said, I believe, last week that some people regard this as murder and the president is among them.

Snow: Yes, well, I --

Question: Does he believe this is murder?

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It’s murder, yes, but we’ve got to strike a balance

Mon, 24 Jul 2006 13:42:00 +0000

As our colleague Farhad Manjoo reported in this space the other day, White House press secretary Tony Snow said last week that George W. Bush was vetoing legislation that would have expanded federal funding for stem cell research because he believes that it's "inappropriate for the federal government to finance something that many people consider murder." Just to make things perfectly clear, Snow added that the president himself is "one of" those people.
As Manjoo asked, if Bush really thinks that destroying embryos amounts to murder, why stop at banning federal funding for research? Why not make it a felony to destroy the embryos in the first place? He isn't the only one asking. Tim Russert put the question to White House chief of staff Josh Bolten Sunday. The exchange -- Russert's mockery, Bolten's refusal to budge from the talking points -- was more amusing than illuminating, but we'll take what we can get:
Russert: If the president believes it is human life, how can he allow private stem cell research to go forward, go forward, if, in fact, that is murder?
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For Democrats, reasons for hope?

Fri, 21 Jul 2006 13:32:00 +0000

November is still a long way away, but:
Congressional Quarterly says that Democratic challengers for the House of Representatives are "thriving" in the race that matters most right now: the one for cash. "While the Democrats still are far from nailing down the net gain of at least 15 seats that they need to end the Republicans' dozen years of House control, they at least are sending many more candidates into the key races in competitive financial shape," CQ says. CQ says Democrats "dominate" the list of best-financed challengers. One success story, at least so far: Joe Sestak, the retired Navy vice admiral who is gunning for Rep. Curt Weldon's seat in Pennsylvania. As a result of Sestak's fundraising accomplishments, CQ has just moved the race from "Republican favored" to "leans Republican," which is to say that "Weldon still has an edge, but that the race is highly competitive, and an upset by Sestak is at least a plausible possibility."
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The emperor’s new veto

Thu, 20 Jul 2006 11:44:00 +0000

President Bush's first veto marks the first time he has lost control of the Republican Congress. But it is significant for more than that. Until now the president has felt no need to assert his executive power over the legislative branch. Congress was whipped into line to uphold his every wish and stifle nearly every dissent. Almost no oversight hearings were held. Investigations into the Bush administration's scandals were quashed. Potentially troublesome reports were twisted and distorted to smear critics and create scapegoats, like the Senate Select Intelligence Committee's report on faulty intelligence leading into the Iraq war. Legislation, which originates in the House of Representatives, was carefully filtered by imposition of an iron rule that it must always meet with the approval of the majority of the majority. By employing this standard, the Republican House leadership, acting as proxy for the White House, managed to rely on the right wing to dominate the entire congressional process.
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“Pro-life” parents say stem cell veto’s a “vote breaker”

Wed, 19 Jul 2006 19:23:00 +0000

George W. Bush has just deployed his first-ever presidential veto to block legislation that would have expanded stem cell research -- which, according to Reuters, is "championed by top scientists and desired by most Americans."
As War Room's Farhad Manjoo has observed, Bush's position on stem cell research -- it's murder, except not -- is pretty fuzzy math. This bill, essentially, would have allowed government funding for research using extra embryos created for in vitro fertilization (a procedure Bush supports) that are now frozen and slated for destruction. According to Bush spokesman Tony Snow, "the president is not going to get on the slippery slope of taking something that is living and making it dead for the purpose of research."
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Bush’s first presidential veto; no pictures, please

Wed, 19 Jul 2006 18:57:00 +0000

As promised, George W. Bush has just vetoed legislation that would have expanded federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. It was the first veto of his presidency, but Bush held no ceremony, and press photographers were barred from the event.
Could it be because the stem cell legislation is popular with the American people -- and because Democrats might relish having a photo or two of Bush vetoing it for their campaign ads come November?
Tony Snow says no.
Photographers weren't allowed in because the president "doesnt feel its appropriate," Snow said. "Hes signing a veto."
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