No Embryos, No Cloning, No Eggs--No Problem!

Two prominent embryonic stem cell scientists today published results showing that they can produce cells with the qualities of embryonic stem cells directly from human skin cells, without the need for creating or destroying embryos, without cloning, and without the need for eggs used in cloning.


The groundbreaking news by Dr. James Thomson, first to grow human embryonic stem cells, and Dr. Shinya Yamanaka, Japan, was that they produced what are called "iPS" cells (induced Pluripotent Stem cells) using a simple recipe that involved adding four genetic factors to a human skin cell. When comparing these new cells with existing embryonic stem cells, Thomson noted that iPS cells "meet the defining criteria" for embryonic stem cells "with the significant exception that the iPS cells are not derived from embryos." Yamanaka and Thomson are to be congratulated for pushing forward the frontiers of science and demonstrating that good science can also satisfy ethical requirements. Coupled with the recent announcement by Dr. Ian Wilmut, cloner of Dolly the sheep, that he is shelving cloning as an unproductive technique in favor of this new ethical method, dubious experiments involving embryo cloning and embryo destruction are being rendered obsolete. Scientists can now work with "embryonic-like" stem cells without ethical concerns, while for patients the adult and cord blood stem cells continue to treat thousands of patients now.

Congress should move swiftly to ban all human cloning by passing the Brownback-Weldon human cloning prohibition.

Additional Resources
New Stem Cell Method Could Ease Ethical Concerns

Nazirite Uprising~New England Conference

Here Goes 'Mutton': Dolly Creator Rejects Cloning

This past weekend, the movement to ban cloning got some help from an unlikely source--the scientist most famous for attempting it.

Professor Ian Wilmut, the creator of Dolly the sheep, publicly announced his decision to abandon "therapeutic cloning" and turn his attention to pro-life alternatives such as those being perfected in Japan with adult stem cells. He believes the "socially acceptable" approach "represents the future for stem cell research," rather than the nuclear transfer method he and his team used 10 years ago in creating Dolly. Although Wilmut was given the go-ahead to pursue human cloning in 2005, the professor has since declined. His decision, on the heels of last week's news that scientists had successfully cloned primates, should put a serious damper on any enthusiasm for projects that require the creation and destruction of cloned embryos. For all of the hype surrounding the monkey breakthrough, a couple of key details were lost on the media. For starters, the team leader of the Oregon primate program, Dr. Shoukhrat Mitalipov, admitted that the "efficiency is low" for the research and it is "not yet a cost effective medical option." Also, some reports estimated that it took over 15,000 monkey eggs to yield just two lines of embryonic stem cells, only one of which is normal. Meanwhile, as scientists waste precious time and resources on a procedure that the majority of the world considers morally unacceptable, pro-life alternatives are effectively treating everything from juvenile diabetes to spinal cord injuries--without the ethical headache. We can only hope that Wilmut's conversion will pull the wool from the eyes of the public, which should result in Congress turning away from spending more taxpayer money on embryonic stem cell research that is both unethical and ineffective.

Additional Resources: Dolly creator Prof Ian Wilmut shuns cloning


Thanks to FRC for this article.
Click here to go to the FRC website.

LITTLE ROOS

Who Are these little Roos?

A Reversal has begun!
IT IS TIME FOR THE GENERATION OF ROOS TO COME FORTH!
God... May there be many more little Roos!!























And the elephant smiled. “Do you see what I mean?…
They’ve proved they ARE persons, no matter how small.
And their whole world was saved by the smallest of All!”

“How true! Yes, how true,” said the big kangaroo.
“And, from now on, you know what I’m planning to do?…
From now on, I’m going to protect them with you!”
And the young kangaroo in her pouch said…
“…ME, TOO!”
“From the sun in the summer. From rain when it’s fall-ish,
I’m going to protect them. No matter how small-ish!”

Inspiration quoted from
DR. SEUSS- "HORTON HEARS A WHO"

Survivor: The Womb Edition

Wow, Thank God for these precious ones lives. Destined to make a difference by Gods CHOICE! The Jones', I'm sure had a really heart wrenching decision to make and I'm sure are very grateful for their little miracles!~Glenn





Thanks to Tony Perkins for this Article. Click HERE to go to the F.R.C. website.

Having just witnessed the miracle of new life, I was amazed at the story of the Lord's protection over an unborn baby that doctors in the U.K. tried--unsuccessfully--to abort. The child, who physicians claimed suffered from an enlarged heart that would likely be fatal in the womb, was a twin. Heeding their doctors' advice, which was to put the child out of his misery, Rebecca and Mark Jones reluctantly agreed to abort the baby in hopes of saving his brother. Gabriel, as he is now known, had other ideas. When the medical team tried to sever his umbilical cord to cut off the blood supply, the cord was too strong. Next they tried to divide the placenta in half "so that when Gabriel died, it wouldn't affect his twin brother." To everyone's amazement, Gabriel survived for another five weeks--long enough for Rebecca to deliver him. She and her husband now marvel that their babies are both alive and completely healthy. "No one could quite believe it," Rebecca says, seven months later. In fact, the procedure that doctors thought would end Gabriel's life was later credited with saving it. The distribution of nutrients through the separate placentas helped give him the strength he needed to keep fighting. As moving as this story is, it does underscore just how vital it is for families to have pro-life doctors who share their worldview. Like the Joneses, we're often at the mercy of the medical community's opinion, and surely we all want their advice to be illuminated through a pro-life lens.

Additional Resources: We're twinseparable! Happy with his brother, the boy who refused to die