Posted by: ST on April 11, 2007 at 3:41 pm
And not embryonic stem cells, either. Via AP (emphasis added):
CHICAGO – Could their own stem cells allow people with Type 1 diabetes to live without daily insulin shots? A small but promising experiment in Brazil suggests the answer someday might be yes.
In a medical first, 15 young people with newly diagnosed diabetes had stem cell transplants from their own blood. Thirteen of them were able to give up insulin and have been successful for periods ranging from six months to three years.
While the procedure is risky and potentially life-threatening, none of the patients died or suffered lasting side effects.
“It’s the first time in the history of Type 1 diabetes where people have gone with no treatment whatsoever,” said study co-author Dr. Richard Burt.
Larger, more rigorous studies are needed to determine if stem cell transplants could become standard treatment for people with the disease. It is less common than Type 2 diabetes, which is associated with obesity.
In the meantime, the Senate is debating and will vote on today two embryonic stem cell bills:
WHITE HOUSE (AP) — The White House says President Bush will again veto a bill to subsidize stem cell research using human embryos.
But the White House did express its support for an alternative bill that permits public funding for studies on embryos incapable of developing into fetuses — arguing that science and ethics don’t need to be “at odds.”
[...]
The bill Bush opposes would lift the president’s ban on federal funding for any new embryonic stem cell studies.
The one Bush supports would prohibit taxpayer money from being spent on the creation of embryos for research purposes.
Each bill needs 60 votes to pass.
Update: Not so good news: The Senate has passed the stem cell research bill that would lift a key restriction the President put on government funding of embryonic stem cell research. If it reaches the President’s desk, expect him to veto it with confidence because Congress doesn’t think it has enough votes to override a presidential veto. BTW, the vote in the Senate was 63-34. Click here for the roll call. I see one of NC’s Senators (Robert Burr) voted in favor of this bill. I will be emailing his office express my strong disagreement. The Democrats who voted “nay” were Casey of PA and Nelson from Nebraska.
The other more sensible stem cell research bill, pushed by Republican Senators Norm Coleman (MN) and Johnny Isakson (GA) and backed by the WH, passed today, too, 70-28. The roll call at this point is not yet available but will be posted here when they do put it on the web. I’m interested to see who voted no on that one.
This story was in the Sacramento Bee also. It wasn’t until way deep on page A13 did it mention that it was bone marrow stem cells (hematopoietic) which are adult stem cells. The media is NOT interested in furthering the fact that adult stem cells have been found to have over 70 uses and embryonic has ZERO uses and not for lack of trying.
When embryonic is mentioned the media ACTS as if embryonic stem cell research is banned when it’s not.
The media should be ashamed of themselves for their daily deluge of misinformation on a daily basis on a whole variety of subjects including their repeated referrals to budget “CUTS” that are supposedly happening in various programs from year to year. It’s unconscionable reporting.
Ahhh the never ending negative reporting for any progress that is not a part of the extremist liberal agenda. Potenitally life-theartening?? As if having diabetes isn’t. These guys are so obvious these days. – Lorica
A good friend of mine is currently in remission…thanks to non-embryonic stem cells.
ST,
Correction, Norm Coleman is from MN, not MI. In fact, Norm holds the “Wellstone” seat, and does a better job of representing Minnesota than Wellstone ever did.
In Dec 2005 I was blessed to receive a hematopoetic stem cell transplant as part of a study ran by Dr Richard Burt at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, IL.
This study was addressing Multiple Sclerosis. It has been 1 year 4 months and my MS is now in complete remission. I have had NO side effects from this procedure except wonderful health.
Two of my biggest frustrations is that most believe that there is no hope for MS, and that people continue to clump stem cells into one category.
This procedure has been applied to cancer for years, but most people don’t know that a Bone Marrow Transplant IS an Adult Stem Cell Transplant. Since I harvested MY OWN stem cells I also did not have to deal with rejection medications.
It seems at there are very few places that want to report good news today. As it was pointed out earlier, they often point to any negative, no matter how far reaching.
If you would like to know more about my experience, you can visit my site. NancysHope.org
Thanks for sharing Nancy. I agree with you.
Congratulations on the amazing success of your treatment Nancy! That is truly an inspiring story. And you are absolutely right, news which doesn’t support the agenda of the MSM is ignored or misrepresented. If I read a stem cell article that doesn’t specifically say it relates to embryonic stem cells, further investigation almost always reveals it’s adult stem cells and the writer has omitted that to confuse the issue or give the impression that it’s ESC when it’s not.
Yours is an amazing story.