The document discusses different types of stem cells including adult stem cells, fetal stem cells, and embryonic stem cells. It notes that adult stem cell research has had 74 clinical successes in treating various diseases and conditions, while embryonic stem cell research has had no successes and risks tumor formation. The document raises ethical issues with extracting stem cells from embryos and fetuses as it requires their destruction. It concludes that adult stem cells are a promising research area that avoids ethical issues.

2. The Humanity of the Unborn The Argument from Biology It is a human life at conception The fertilized egg contains 46 chromosomes in a new and unique configuration.

3. When Does Human Life Begin? Human embryologist C. Ward Kischer speaks out about the socio-legal issues involving the human embryo. 2003

4. “ It is quite clear that what was known more than 100 years ago, even intuitively before that, is that the fusion of sperm and oocyte begins the life of the new individual human being.”

5. Fertilization begins a directional process, separate from the mother, genetically distinct

6. What Are Stem Cells? Stem cells are specialized cells that can produce several different kinds of cells

7. Just like the stem of a plant will produce branches, leaves, and flowers, so stem cells can usually produce many different kinds of cells.

8. What are stem-cells? Stem cells are unspecialized cells that continually renew themselves through cell division. Unlike other cells, stem cells begin as "blanks" without a dedicated task, but with an ability to become specialized.

9. Stem cells can become other types of cells Reproduced by Permission of Professor Rathjen of the University of Adelaide

10. Stem cells can also divide indefinitely  stem cell line

11. The science is complex!

12. 1. ADULT STEM CELLS are stem cells found in the umbilical cord (after live birth), fat, bone marrow, tissue, organs, blood, etc. of a human being. These cells are removed from the body of the patient and manipulated in the laboratory.

13. After the cells multiply, the healthy cells are separated from the diseased cells and reinserted back into the body of the patient.

14. Human clinical trials show that these new cells go to the diseased or injured body part and begin to generate healthy cells and tissue; the cells are especially successful because they contain the exact DNA of the patient, preventing cell rejection.

15. Because the procuring and use of adult stem cells never requires the creation or destruction of a human embryo, it is free of the ethical challenges presented by other types of stem cell research.

16. While adult stem cell research is by no means a perfected process, there are dozens of breakthroughs each month for the treatment of numerous human diseases.

17. The Promise of Adult Stem Cells Last year the National Institutes of Health spent $190 million on adult stem cell research and $25 million on embryonic stem cell research

18. Treatments or cures via adult stem cells

19. *Diabetes *heart disease * Sickle cell anemia *Leukemia * MS *Parkinson’s disease *Crohn’s disease *Macular degeneration * Rheumatoid arthritis *Paralysis * Cancer * Bone loss *Vision problems *Lupus *Hair loss * Incontinence * Serious spinal-cord injury * Liver disease

20. Stem Cell Research Adult stem cell research seems most promising (74 clinical successes).

21. Brazil to study use of stem cells in heart treatment: Wed Feb 2, 2005:

22. "The project which Brazil is developing is unique in the world, in the number of case studies -- 1,200 patients -- and the number of institutions involved, 40 across the whole country," a ministry official told AFP.

23. Saving Lives! Clinical trials are already testing the treatment of Parkinson’s using gene therapy and adult stem cells. Alzheimer’s is likely not treatable by stem cells.

24. Advantages. Adult stem cells are: Immune to immune attack: If patients receive the products of their own stem cells, they will not mount an immune response.

25. Available: Some types, like blood stem cells, are easy to find. Partly specialized: That reduces the amount of outside direction needed to create specialized cells.

26. Flexible: Adult stem cells may form other tissue types. Last fall, scientists reported that skin and blood stem cells both produced cells that look like neurons -- in the lab.

27. Ira Black, of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School , who lead the blood work, told Science News, "It's absolutely astonishing. There are stem cells in a variety of places in the body that have the capability of giving rise to neurons"

28. Umbilical Cord Blood Collection

29. Stem Cell Research Adult stem cell research seems most promising (74 clinical successes). Embryonic stem cell research has been a failure (China – man with Parkinson’s developed grotesque tumor).

30. Adult stem cells Adult stem cells also have the capacity to produce many different cell types, including neurons. A person’s own stem cells should be the best source of cells for transplantation

31. Clinical trials are already underway using bone marrow (adult) stem cells for treatment of heart attacks, liver disease, diabetes, bone and cartilage disease and brain disorders.

32. Adult stem cells can switch tissues. Adult stem cells migrate throughout the body in the blood. The discovery of the “ultimate adult stem cell” was announced 1/23/02

33. Adult stem cells can even be injected intravenously in large quantities and they will migrate to where the injury is located.

34. Scientists hope to use this capability to replace cells damaged by a broad spectrum of diseases.

35. You can harvest adult stem cells from the individual to be treated. Therefore, there are no rejection problems.

36. Why all the fuss? Reproduced by permission of The Providence Journal

37. What we’re told Stem cells may be able to replace damaged cells in the body Today: lymphoma, leukemia Future? Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, diabetes... Promising animal studies

38. Questions to ask yourself Who are ‘the experts’? When do they say life begins? Are they giving ‘false promises’? Are they neglecting to speak of Adult Stem Cell treatments?

39. 2. FETAL STEM CELLS are stem cells taken from the tissues of aborted or miscarried fetuses. The stem cells are extracted from the fetus, treated in the laboratory, and then inserted into the body of the suffering patient.

40. No medical treatment derived from fetal stem cells has successfully treated a human disease. In one of the most well-known human clinical trials using fetal stem cells, the cells were inserted into the brains of Parkinson’s patients.

41. Unfortunately, the unpredictable young cells created terratomas (masses of tissue with hair and teeth) and tumors, and the majority of patients experienced increased symptoms.

42. 3. EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS are stem cells derived from human embryos created through in vitro fertilization (the union of sperm and egg in the laboratory).

43. Couples can legally donate their unborn embryonic children to research by signing consent forms.

44. In most cases, couples do so because they have fertilized more eggs than they are willing to implant in the woman’s womb for offspring. Embryonic stem cells extracted from donated embryos are used to start stem cell lines, and these stem cells are used for clinical trials.

45. Once the stem cells are extracted from the embryo, the outer layer of the embryo can no longer insulate and protect the integrity of the cells. Thus, the cells are insulated by feeder cells from mice, a method of preservation with serious contamination concerns.

46. Lengthy process before transplantation to patient

47. No animal or human clinical trials have shown improvement or recovery from illness or disease through the use of embryonic stem cells ; in fact, embryonic stem cells are known to create tumors -because of their young and unpredictable nature -and are often rejected due to the DNA mismatch.

48. The obvious ethical issue Extracting stem cells from embryos remaining from in vitro fertilization does result in the death of those embryos and, consequently, has severe ethical implications.

49. During development, cells derived from these stem cells become progressively more specialized. It's normally a one-way street -- in the body, embryonic stem cells don't stick around long. National Institutes of Health

50. No health benefits or cures have been realized from cloned human embryonic stem cells; only one laboratory in South Korea has managed to grow the human clones to the stage where stem cell extraction is possible.

51. Sources of ES cells ES cell lines Excess embryos from IVF clinics Embryos created for research by IVF Therapeutic cloning

52. The Problem with Embryonic Stem Cells The embryo must be destroyed. The proper chemical signals to direct stem cells to turn into the cells you want are unknown.

53. In China a man with Parkinson's was treated with human ES cells which turned into a tumor (teratoma) in his brain that killed him. The power of ESCs is also the source of their peril.

54. Embryonic stem cells are: Hard to control: They may pass through several intermediate stages before becoming the cell type needed to treat a particular disease; this process is controlled by complex chemical cues.

55. Rejected by the immune system: The immune profile of the specialized cells would differ from that of the recipient.

56. Besides the ethical questions … Financial $$$$$$$ Practical Must begin with new stem cell lines Legal

57. Embryonic stem cell research requires human cells. This could create a commercial market for human cells. Some may say: “This devalues life” Courtesy of Kevin Siers, The Charlotte Observer © 2001 $$$$$$$$$$

58. Study Says All Stem Cell Lines Tainted: Mon Jan 24, 2005 Los Angeles Times “ All human embryonic stem cell lines approved for use in federally funded research are contaminated with a foreign molecule from mice that may make them risky for use in medical therapies..” Practical

59. Destroyed embryo deemed human - February 5, 2005 A frozen embryo destroyed in a Chicago fertility clinic was a human being whose parents are entitled to file a wrongful-death lawsuit, a Cook County judge ruled Friday. Legal

60. Attorneys on both sides of the abortion issue said it was the first such ruling they had heard of as the country debates whether stem cells derived from embryos can be used in research and medicine. The legal question

61. In an opinion issued Friday, Cook County Judge Jeffrey Lawrence said "a pre-embryo is a 'human being' ... whether or not it is implanted in its mother's womb."

62. So, what have we learned? When does biology say life begins? Who are ‘the experts’? When do they say life begins? Are they giving ‘false promises’?

63. Are they neglecting to speak of Adult Stem Cell treatments? “ He who frames the question, frames the answer”

64. Can we afford to waste time on research that has not produced one success while overlooking research that has a tremendous success rate?