The politics of human stem cell research

Don Sloan, MD

What would make the son of a late Republican President take to 
the podium of the Democratic National Convention and speak 
against the present GOP President, someone his father would have 
endorsed? Or to have his mother, a staunch Republican who 
frequently broke bread with the most right-wing elements of her 
party, get on that same bandwagon?

Answer: Stem cell research and its medical, scientific and 
political implications. Why is this issue so important?

First, a little Science 101. What are human embryonic stem cells? 
The name says it. They are just that  stems, with the ability to 
develop into any form of human tissue (in any animal, for that 
matter).

They are created after the male sperm fertilises the female's egg 
and a full stage embryonic cell, the zygote, is formed. This cell 
then divides by mitosis ad infinitum until the human body, with 
all its functions and appearance, is formed.

Those cells divide into two parts and each "daughter" cell has 
the potential to either remain as yet another stem cell to divide 
further or, through a complicated system of enzymes and 
neurological stimuli, the other part matures into all the body's 
cells  the brain, stomach, heart, muscles, etc. Voil`! A human 
being is created.

Why "daughter" cells? Because all creation is female until male 
enzymes exert their power if the sperm passed along the Y, 
instead of the X, chromosome. Boy or girl, the stem story remains 
the same.

If scientists had all those stem cells from abortions that have 
the potential of making new and healthy organs, just imagine 
their use. When there came a need for a new organ — a heart, 
liver or pancreas in the case of the diabetic, for example — the 
stem cells that were programmed to make such an organ could be 
harvested, the organ created either in the lab or in situ (in the 
natural place) and a healthy organ would be formed, without 
transplant. The uses are endless. Why then the controversy?

Because of those religious zealots that are using their theology 
to insist they know for sure that life begins at conception, 
which fuels their violent antagonism to a woman's choice to 
terminate a pregnancy. They influenced President George W Bush to 
essentially curtail stem cell research and development as of 
August 9, 2001. That means that only those stem cells that were 
harvested before that date can, with federal funding, be 
developed into needed human organs.

The catch is that those cells are minuscule and finite in number 
compared to those needed for future use and they are quite 
fragile. As they die off, without replacement, stem cell research 
for human needs is essentially over. It has been suggested, 
foolishly, that scientists can use adult cells, with some vague 
"pluripotentiality" for organ development. That's a big word 
meaning the cells possess the power of developing in any one of 
several possible ways but the fact is they just do not have the 
ability to turn into any sure, safe organ.

So again, why the resistance to this life-saving process? 
Because, while the right wing has no qualms about bombing Iraq 
and killing US soldiers and Iraqi civilians by the thousands, a 
woman's right to choose is so nefarious to them that even using 
the aborted tissues of a first trimester termination for such an 
obvious good does not change the equation. All just another 
reason to end the nightmare we are living under with the Bush 
administration and vote him out of office come November 2.

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"The Nation's Health/Workers' Safety", People's Weekly World