ESCR: 28 years and no progress...

...so why is the government so Hellbent to fund research there instead of into something that actually works?

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- In the 28 years that scientists have been toying with embryonic stem cells in animals and humans, not one human patient has even been treated. Despite President Barack Obama forcing taxpayers to fund the research, that destroys human life, scientists don't expect that to change anytime soon.

In a new interview with NPR, Len Zon, a stem cell researcher at Children's Hospital in Boston, admits that any hope of treating patients with embryonic stem cells is not forthcoming.

"I think that's still a ways off," Zon said.

"Although there are some studies that the FDA is considering, I think we still have to figure out how to make these cells in a more efficient and effective way, and I think that's going to take awhile," he said.

Part of the effectiveness problem revolves around the fact that embryonic stem cells, when inserted as treatments in animals, still form tumors and prompt rejection issues from the immune system.

Zon told NPR that he holds out more hope for the new development called direct reprogramming. That's the process discovered by Japanese researcher Shinya that reverts adult stem cells to an embryonic-like state and avoids having to kill unborn children to obtain the cells. Patients are already receiving treatments with the induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSCs) the process creates.

Jose Cibelli of Michigan State University told NPR that direct reprogramming is revolutionary because it uses the benefits of embryonic stem cells without the moral quandary of killing human beings.

"Anybody can do this procedure," Cibelli said. "It's a very simple recipe. It's a combination of three or four genes, and in a couple of weeks you go from a skin cell to an embryonic stem cell. It's remarkable."

LifeNews.com talked with Dr. David Prentice, a former biology professor at Indiana State University who is now associated with the Family Research Council.

He said scientists are still underplaying the value of adult stem cells.

"Obviously, what's missing from this perspective is the whole subject of adult stem cells," he said.

He also says Zon underplays the difficulty associated with embryonic stem cells.

"Zon points to a lot of exciting basic research being done with embryonic stem cells, but that any real applications are 'still a ways off,'" Dr. Prentice noted. "That seems an understatement of epic proportions."

"There has been precious little progress with embryonic stem cells in the last 28 years, since mouse ESC were first grown, and that lack of progress has little to do with legislation or funding and much to do with the intractable nature of the cells," he continued.

Prentice told LifeNews.com that "iPS cells are exciting because they can be created easily and cheaply from any tissue and any individual, and the process offers insight into the basic nature of gene expression and cell development."

Still, Prentice says adult stem cells outpace even IPSCs in terms of their usefulness for patients.

"They are a boon to basic research. But even iPS cells offer only distant promises for clinical use," he said. "The real progress has all come from adult stem cells, not only in basic science understanding, but more importantly in the realization of practical applications already helping thousands of patients."

It earns me a tinfoil hat that I proudly wear, but the denial of our elected "leaders" to see the obvious and deny ESCR funding because of it's failure only proves a demonic link. Just my two cents but there it is.

How else can stupidity of this nature be explained? ESCR has NO, repeat the word, NO benefits. All advances so far have come from ADULT stem cells. Hey, maybe thats why the majority of PRIVATE research is concerned with ADULT cells. Since private research is looking towards the bottom line it goes for what works. Only with government funding can you spend 28 years barking up the wrong tree, trying to justify the further slaughter of innocent human lives.

So I'll say it again, there is a link to the demonic in continued calls for ESCR. How else can such wasteful stupidity (from the view point of Big Business) be justified?