Look up Rush Limbaugh or Michael J. Fox on Google or YouTube ? if you have hours to kill or want to have a cynical laugh.
Ever since the actor with Parkinson?s disease began appearing in campaign ads, including one for Democratic Senate hopeful Ben Cardin, the issue has stirred the waters of local and national races around the country.
Conservative commentator Limbaugh accused the actor of “playing up” the tremors and spasms of his illness; Cardin opponent Michael Steele brought his sister ? who has multiple sclerosis ? into ads saying he supports adult stem cell research, and independent filmmaker Joe Monks, of Miami, inserted himself into the issue by supporting Steele who he said “supports stem cell research that?s done in a responsible and ethical manner.”
The issue may top Web searches and blog rants across the country, but the self-appointed pundits so far have shed little light on the facts about stem cells.
The political fight ? focusing on destroying embryos for possible cures ? has resulted in a patchwork of regulation on state, federal and international levels, said Dr. Debra Matthews, geneticist with the Berman Bioethics Institute at Johns Hopkins University.
“It makes it very difficult to collaborate across state lines,” she said. “These are scientists, not lawyers.”
Stem cells are the foundation of growth. Embryonic stem cells ? those taken from frozen fertilized embryos that aren?t being used to create babies ? are the most versatile, Warren said.
Theoretically, scientists should be able to generate all 220 types of cell tissue in the human body using embryonic stem cells, she said. These tissues could then be used to replace nerve, liver, kidney or other tissue ravaged by diseases ranging from Parkinson?s to diabetes.
While practical solutions are still years off in most cases, adult stem cells ? like those found in bone marrow and umbilical cord blood ? have been used in therapy for more than 50 years, Matthews said.
“Cord blood is used to treat blood disease (like leukemia) in babies that have just been born,” she said. “A bone marrow transplant is basically a stem cell transplant.”
The limitation of adult stem cells is they can?t be used to generate all types of tissues, she said, cord blood can create all types of blood cells, but are not very good at generating liver tissue.
“You can, with very small frequency, turn adult stem cells into things like neurons. We?re not very good and propagating those cells and growing them. You need more than one or two cells” to create a therapy, Matthewssaid.
Stem Cell companies operating in Maryland
» Osiris Therapeutics, Inc.
» Theradigm, Inc. -East (in which Powers? investment company has holdings)
» Cognate BioServices, Inc.
» Korean-based RNL Bio, established a local satellite office
Source: Maryland Stem Cell Commission
Part of the Baltimore Examiner’s 2006 Election Coverage
