BOSTON — Organizations that support abortion are only too willing to tell their clients that the unborn child is a kind of parasite, a foreign being that contributes nothing to a woman's health and which will be an intolerable burden after birth. Now, however, science is disproving the polemics again. Researchers at Tufts new England Medical Center have found that the child in the womb is a possible source of stem cells for the mother. There is evidence that shows stem cells move from the child through the umbilical cord and into the mother to help repair damaged tissue.
A report was published in the July 7th edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association saying that scientists have discovered evidence of fetal stem cells in the liver, spleen, and thyroid of women who had been pregnant. The senior author of the paper said that the cells may have therapeutic potential if they can be determined to be stem cells from the fetus. The abstract of the report says that this is not the first time fetal stem cells have been found in the system of pregnant women. “Many studies have confirmed the residual presence of fetal cells in maternal blood and tissues following pregnancy.”
Editorial comment in the AMA Journal said that the possibility of stem cells being found to move between child and mother during pregnancy could affect the debate over embryo research. “The time may soon come when the prenatal child heals the mother and perhaps in the far distant future becomes the ultimate health insurance for the whole family.” Such a possibility is not that far away with more attention being paid to the banking and use of umbilical cord blood. Umbilical blood is a rich source of stem cells that can be matched both to family members and genetically similar strangers.
Many scientists and lobbying organizations have been laying heavy pressure on the Bush administration to lift the funding restrictions on the use of embryos in research.
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Abstract of the Paper (Registration May Be Required)
Also, Adult Stem Cells an Effective Treatment for Heart Attacks
FREIBERG — Researchers in Germany have found that adult stem cells are an effective treatment for patients who have had heart attacks. Researchers at the University of Freiberg treated sixty patients either with stem cells taken from their own bone marrow, or with the best conventional treatment. After six months the hearts of those who received the stem cell treatments were working far better.
The stem cells used were taken from each patient's own bone marrow and injected into their heart muscle. The researchers believe that the adult stem cells turned into blood vessel or heart muscles. Because the cells came from the patient's own body, the transplant was not rejected. The researchers also believe the bone marrow stem cells promoted the secretion of chemicals by heart tissue that encouraged growth.
Ian Rosenburg, a heart attack patient who had the pioneering treatment in Germany, explained of his own recovery, “It was a miracle. I couldn't get around and go out. Now I can run up and down all the time.” Patients who received the new treatment had a 7% improvement in the functioning of their left ventricle. Those treated conventionally had only a 0.7% improvement.
(This update courtesy of LifeSiteNews.com.)
