Recently, the New York Times, The New England Journal of Medicine and Fox Television show “The O’Rielly Factor” have reported on “disastrous side effects” reported from scientific studies that have attempted to treat Parkinson’s Disease. Parkinson’s Disease. Parkinson’s Disease is generally thought to be caused by the death of cells that make dopamine, a chemical that transports messages to the brain. Researchers have concluded that injecting fetal cells into selected areas of a patient’s brain would somehow cure them. Gina Kolata of the New York Times wrote, this “not only failed to show an overall effect in 15% of patients….. the patients writhe and twist, jerk their heads (and) fling their arms about.” The fetal cells produced too much of a chemical that controls movement which caused patients to writhe and jerk uncontrollably.
In a March 8 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Paul E. Greene describes the devastating side effects, “They chew constantly, their fingers go up and down, their wrists flex and distend.” Greene said one man could no longer eat on his own, and requires a feeding tube. In other cases, these bizarre movements occur randomly through out the day. These grotesque side effects mimic those sometimes seen when drugs are used to attempt to control Parkinson’s Disease and the dose is too high. With drugs, one can cut down the dose. When fetal stem cells are transplanted, there is no way to deactivate them or remove them. Many Parkinson’s patients are worse off than before the transplant.
In it’s editorial, The New England Journal stated: “It is unlikely for both practical and biologic reasons that transplantations of fragments of embryonic tissue will be the therapy of the future.” Dr. William Langston CEO of the Parkinson’s Institute in Sunnyvale, California disagrees.
Dr. David Prentice who teaches molecular biology at Indianapolis University defended the pro-life position on Fox television’s the O’Rielly Factor, “I believe stem cell research is illegal, and immoral and unnecessary. Our genome makes us human. Adult stem cells can do all the things embryonic cells can do without side effects like forming tumors and grotesque movements, and you don’t have to kill anyone.”
Susan Cirba Life Issues Main
Email: SueCirba@hotmail.com
