Someone call Michael J. Fox.
Maryland is following the lead of California in acknowledging that adult stem cell research has shown much promise, while embryonic stem cell research has destroyed countless lives with no results.
A proposed Maryland bill that would fund adult stem cell research for sickle cell disease has won the backing of the Maryland Catholic Conference. One official with the conference says success in unfunded adult stem cell efforts suggests that a focus on embryonic stem cells has led to “funding the wrong research.”
The legislation in the state’s House of Delegates is sponsored by Delegate Shirley Nathan-Pulliam, a Baltimore County Democrat. It would devote five percent of the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund to adult stem cell research for sickle cell disease, the Catholic Review reports.
Del. Nathan-Pulliam’s proposal comes two months after the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) published the results of a clinical trial that used the research to reverse sickle cell disease in 90 percent of adult patients.
Nancy Paltell, associate director for respect for life at the Maryland Catholic Conference, said that the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund had twice rejected applications for funding adult stem cell research in sickle cell disease.
“Adult stem cells don’t have the safety issues of embryonic stem cell and induced pluripotent stem cell research – both of which form tumors,” commented Paltell, according to the Catholic Review.
She expressed concern that the state research fund is favoring projects involving embryonic stem cell research that depends upon the destruction of human life.
Paltell noted that the recent clinical trial used adult stem cells from matched bone marrow, but work must now be done using stem cells from either non-matching bone marrow or umbilical cord blood.
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