Basicly President Barack Obama is allowing federal taxpayer dollars your money and my money to fund significantly broader research on embryonic stem cells because "medical miracles do not happen simply by accident," and promised his administration would make up for the ground lost under his predecessor.

To the look of it, it seems that this is a great area for research on new ground breaking possiblities in health applications and human body transplants.

But what is embryonic stem cells?

According to Wikipedia this is the meaning:

Embryonic stem cells (ES cells) are stem cells derived from the inner cell mass of an early stage embryo known as a blastocyst. Human embryos reach the blastocyst stage 4–5 days post fertilization, at which time they consist of 50–150 cells.

Embryonic Stem (ES) cells are pluripotent. This means they are able to differentiate into all derivatives of the three primary germ layers: ectoderm, endoderm, and mesoderm. These include each of the more than 220 cell types in the adult body. Pluripotency distinguishes ES cells from multipotent progenitor cells found in the adult; these only form a limited number of cell types. When given no stimuli for differentiation, (i.e. when grown in vitro), ES cells maintain pluripotency through multiple cell divisions. The presence of pluripotent adult stem cells remains a subject of scientific debate; however, research has demonstrated that pluripotent stem cells can be directly generated from adult fibroblast cultures.^[1]

Because of their plasticity and potentially unlimited capacity for self-renewal, ES cell therapies have been proposed for regenerative medicine and tissue replacement after injury or disease. However, to date, no approved medical treatments have been derived from embryonic stem cell research. Adult stem cells and cord blood stems cells have thus far been the only stem cells used to successfully treat any diseases.

Sounds great but did you catch the first paragraph? This cell comes from pregnancy. So where are we to get these cells?

We have to kill the human embryo.

Note every living human being goes through the embryonic stage in a continuum of stages from conception to old age if not interrupted by death. This is a matter of science.

Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney said, "Lifting the ban on the public funding of embryonic stem cell research is a slap in the face to Americans who embrace social justice for all human life especially those members of the faith community. President Obama is once again breaking his campaign promise of building unity and consensus among all groups.

"The President also shows he is living in the past when it comes to stem cell research. With the advances made with new technology and adult stem cells, embryonic stem cell research is both unnecessary and archaic. We invite President Obama to step into the 21st Century of modern medicine and work on innovative, progressive and ethical ways to heal diseases and relieve suffering."

In 2007, the scientist who cloned Dolly the Sheep, Sir Ian Wilmut, announced that he saw no further need for cloning human embryos to develop patient specific therapies because "he is convinced that this new work overcomes key practical and ethical issues in obtaining embryo cells that [are] potentially capable of generating all cell types for treating disease," according to the Daily Telegraph of London.

The March 6, 2009 Los Angeles Times reported a new breakthrough in iPS cell research and added, "The reprogramming of skin cells into iPS cells, which have the potential to become any type of cell in the body, is one of the hottest areas of biological research. The cells seem to offer all the benefits of embryonic stem cells without any of the ethical drawbacks. They are also ideally suited to making genetically matched tissues for patients, such as insulin-secreting islet cells for people with diabetes or brain tissue to treat stroke victims."

Yes some good may come from it but it will come from a life destroyed in the present which does not give it the right to life.

Bernadine Healy, MD, former Director of the National Institute for Heath wrote for the US News and World Report Blog "during the first six weeks of Obama's term, several events reinforced the notion that embryonic stem cells, once thought to hold the cure for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and diabetes, are obsolete. The most sobering: a report from Israel published in PLoS Medicine in late February that shows embryonic stem cells injected into patients can cause disabling if not deadly tumors."

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