Catholic Fire

April 22, 2013 --Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has signed legislation creating a new center at the state's medical school for researching potential cures using adult stem cells. The bill signed into law Monday by Brownback prohibits the new center at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City from using money or resources on research with embryonic stem cells. Instead, the aim is to make Kansas a leader in research with adult stem cells and stem cells from babies' umbilical cord blood. Excerpted from  KAKE News. Image Source

HOPING to contribute to the end of the use of embryos in research, the Catholic Church is offering a $100,000 grant for research into the medical use of adult stem cells. The Sydney Archdiocese announced the grant on Wednesday, saying it is still vehemently opposed to embryonic stem cell research but approves of the use of adult stem cells. Sydney Archbishop Cardinal George Pell says adult stem cells can already be used in the treatment of heart and liver disease. "The Catholic Church promotes and encourages medical research and we strongly support stem cell research and other forms of biotechnology that respect the dignity of every human life," Cardinal Pell said in a statement. "Advances in adult stem cell research have been extremely impressive." The Catholic Church says the grant will be awarded by an independent assessment panel. This is the fourth adult stem cell grant the Church has awarded since 2002, with $300,000 already given. ~ Via The Northern Star.

Research using adult stem cells has saved the life of a Texas boy suffering from sickle cell anemia. Research shows adult stem cells are now being used to treat well over 70 diseases and medical conditions, while research using embryonic stem cells -- which requires killing of a human embryo -- has produced zero results.

Oprah spotlighted Parkinson's Disease on her March 30 show, featuring her own doctor, Mehmet Oz, author of the best-selling YOU book series, and actor and Parkinson's Disease sufferer Michael J. Fox. In this video clip, Dr. Oz tells Oprah and embryonic stem-cell proponent Michael J. Fox that treatment for Parkinson’s will come through ethical adult stem-cell research. H/T: Jill Stanek

Stem Cell Research: Beyond Hype, Real Hope by the Family Research Council This public domain film is consistent with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, which state that the ablation of the inner cell mass (ICM) of the blastocyst, which critically and irremediably damages the human embryo, curtailing its development, is a gravely immoral act and consequently is gravely illicit. Should we use embryonic stem cells or adult stem cells for future medical therapies? Embryonic stem cells are taken from a developing embryo at the blastocyst stage, destroying the embryo, a developing human life. Adult stem cells, on the other hand, are found in all tissues of the growing human being and, according to latest reports, also have the potential to transform themselves into practically all other cell types, or revert to being stem cells with greater reproductive capacity. Embryonic stem cells have not yet been used for even one therapy, while adult stem cells have already been successfully u...