[Pflienews] PFLI PharmFacts E-News Update: NE law says post-abortion problems = lawsuit; Canadian pharmacist quits Board over need for changes to protect pharmacists; more...

Mon Jul 26 15:53:58 MDT 2010

*PharmFacts E-News Update -- 26 Jul 2010 AD
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_/*NE LAW SAYS POST-ABORTION PROBLEMS = LAWSUIT*/_ 
<http://www.stopforcedabortions.org/>

_/*CANADIAN PHARMACIST QUITS BOARD OF PHARMACY TO FIGHT FOR 
CHANGES...*/_ 
<http://www.thenownews.com/news/Pharmacist+resigns+from+board/3304326/story.html>_/*
_/*ABORTOHOLIC GREGOIRE FIGHTS WITH OWN ATTYS OVER PHARMACIST RIGHTS 
LAWSUIT...*/_ 
<http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/07/18/1267883/plan-b-plan-irks-gregoire.html>_/*
_/*WA STATE REVISITS QUASHING PHARMACIST CONSCIENCE RIGHTS...*/_ 
<http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2010/07/17/washington-revisits-quashing-of-pharmacy-conscience-rights/>*/_*/_

------------------------------------------------------------------------

*FREEDOM RIDES FOR THE PREBORN PROCLAIM HUMAN RIGHTS FOR ALL*

*Washington, DC (23 July 2010)* -- /American Life League Vice President 
Jim Sedlak issued the following statement on the Pro-Life Freedom Rides 
scheduled to begin Friday, July 23:
/
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the Freedom Riders as they launch an 
exciting crusade that seeks to bring to the forefront the need to secure 
the equal rights of all human beings. With the blessings of God, we hope 
to see this effort spread across the country and into every community.

"Like their forebearers in the civil rights movement, those embarking on 
Freedom Rides this weekend will be taking a public stand for truth, 
justice and equal protection under the law.

"The pro-life movement is indeed the civil rights movement of the 21st 
century. More and more Americans are rising up against oppression of the 
weakest and most helpless among us, and taking a stand for freedom. Let 
this Freedom Ride across the country be a clarion call for all people of 
good will to join together to work for the day when America recognizes 
the dignity and personhood of all human beings -- in particular, the 
preborn and other vulnerable persons.

"We call on all Americans to welcome these Freedom Riders with open 
arms. The time has come to recognize the personhood of all people in the 
town square of every city. The time has come for personhood NOW."

American Life League was cofounded in 1979 by Judie Brown. It is the 
largest grassroots Catholic pro-life organization in the United States 
and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the 
moment of creation to natural death.  For more information or press 
inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at 540.659.4942.

*FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Priests for Life:* Pro-Life Freedom Rides Begin in Birmingham (23 July 2010)
http://www.priestsforlife.org/action/pro-life-freedom-rides.htm 
<http://ss.all.org/link.php?M=84895&N=923&L=6077&F=H>

*/
Indiana Planned Parenthood caught on tape giving fabricated medical 
information/*
The youth-led pro-life group Live Action released a new undercover video 
July 19 showing staff at an Indianapolis Planned Parenthood clinic using 
manipulative and medically inaccurate counseling to convince a young 
woman to have an abortion. This is the third undercover video Live 
Action has released showing abusive counseling practices at Planned 
Parenthood of Indiana.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jul/10072001.html 
<http://ss.all.org/link.php?M=84895&N=924&L=6078&F=H>

*
*/*Despite previous comments on medical treatment, paralyzed man really 
wanted to live*
/A paralyzed man in England who had once said he would never want to be 
kept alive were he severely disabled narrowly escaped death when doctors 
were about to withdraw treatment. Though previously unresponsive and in 
a "very bleak" condition, he communicated that he wanted to continue to 
live.
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=102751 
<http://ss.all.org/link.php?M=84895&N=924&L=6082&F=H>

*
/New PAV head says attacks on embryo are based in desire for power/*
Attacks on the life and dignity of human embryos are based on a desire 
for power, said the recently appointed head of the Pontifical Academy 
for Life (PAV). Monsignor Ignacio Carrasco de Paula said that from the 
viewpoint of science, the "embryo is very well defended ... The problem 
is essentially of a socio-political and ideological nature and here 
scientific arguments don't count ... It is a realm in which what counts 
is power and if the one who has power has no desire to dialogue or at 
least to reflect somewhat, then he doesn't have much to do with other 
guidelines." Governments and other groups or individuals that want to 
use embryos as living human test subjects "have the ball," he said. 
"That is, in the end what remains is the political weapon and the 
political weapon that we citizens have today is weak. Those who know 
politics can do much more and that is their very grave responsibility."
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jul/10071601.html 
<http://ss.all.org/link.php?M=84895&N=924&L=6079&F=H>

------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/irvi/irvi_69ipsstemcell.html
"Adult stem cells said to 'forget' retooling; Embryonic alternative [iPS 
stem cell research] suffers setback"

[[*Comments:*  While it would be great of course to find ethical 
alternatives to the use of human embryonic stem cells (for therapies and 
for basic research), the article copied below indicates once again that 
scientifically iPS cells would not constitute that final "ethical 
alternative".  There have also been several similar research studies 
over the last few years which have indicated similar /scientific/ 
problems with iPS cells.  But there are also a number of /ethical/ 
concerns that continue to plague iPS stem cell research.  For example: 

(1)  *Referring to iPS stem cells as "adult" stem cells is very 
misleading*.  Real "adult" stem cells obtained from adult human tissues 
and organs are initially "multipotent", and then are re-programmed to 
become even /more differentiated/ cells, whereas iPS cells are obtained 
from adult cells that are de-programmed back to "pluripotency" to become 
/far less differentiated/ cells.  *That is, real "adult" stem cells are 
never manipulated to become "pluripotent", whereas iPS stem cells are.*  
The ethical concern is that, especially with little or no control over 
this de-programming or de-methylations process (as demonstrated in the 
studies addressed by the article below), "totipotent" cells could result 
instead of "pluripotent" cells.  Since "totipotent" cells are by 
definition /capable/ of being reverted to new single cell human embryos 
by means of the natural biological process of "regulation" or 
"de-methylation", if any totipotent cells do result from these iPS 
techniques they could indeed revert back to new single-cell human 
embryos which would then be destroyed.  Please, this is not to say that 
all totipotent cells are embryos (as I have been misquoted as saying).  
It is to say that the real possibility exists that such totipotent 
/cells/ might revert to new single-cell /embryos/ because they possess 
the natural biological process of "regulation" or "de-methylation".  Of 
interest is that:  a)  none of these experiments test directly for 
"totipotency", only for odd tumor-producing properties of "pluripotency" 
-- so they don't know -- empirically -- if any human embryos have been 
"accidentally" produced during the iPS process;  and b) their 
definitions of "pluripotency" and of "totipotency" are scientifically 
incorrect.  For more details and scientific references on these 
concerns, see:  

Irving, "Pluripotent' Stem Cell (iPS) Research is Not the Usual 'Adult' 
Stem Cell Research" (April 8, 2009), at:  
http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/irv/irv_138ips_notadultstemcell.html;   
and, Irving, "Framing the Debates on Human Cloning and Human Embryonic 
Stem Cells: Pluripotent vs. TOTIPOTENT" (July 23, 2005), at: 
http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/irv/irv_100debatecloning1.html.   For 
related issues of "redefinitions" of standard scientific terms, see 
Irving and Kischer , "Responses to Dr. Condic's 'Science' in /National 
Catholic Register/ Interview" (January 6, 2010), at:
http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/irv/irv_172responsetocondic.html;  
also, Irving, Condic's 'Pre-Zygote' Error in 'When Does Human Life 
Begin?'" (November 18, 2008), at:  
http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/irv/irv_134maureencondic1.html

(2)  *iPS research, as well as most other similar types of research, 
require the use of "biological materials" that are derived originally 
from human embryos and human fetuses and then used throughout these 
experiments .*  This has been acknowledged by these researchers 
themselves.  That is, even aside from the very real possibility that 
real living human embryos might be "accidentally" reproduced during the 
iPS process, the fact remains that bits and pieces of human embryos and 
fetuses are used throughout these experiments (e.g., in the media used, 
the feeder cells used, the "controls" in assays and machines used, 
etc.).  Therefore, such research could hardly claim that it was "free" 
of the unethical destruction of any human embryos and fetuses.  This 
concern about the use of human embryonic and fetal "biological 
materials" in iPS stem cell research holds for related research as 
well, such as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), ANT, OAR, etc.

(3)  It should also be pointed out in fairness that the quote attributed 
to Debi Vinnedge (Executive Director of Children of God For Life) as 
stated in the article below is also not completely accurate.  (On the 
other hand, these scientific "details" are often difficult for those 
with little scientific background, like reporters and most other people, 
to comprehend).  Debi Vinnedge is quoted as saying that "the study 
wasn't particularly helpful in resolving moral issues surrounding 
stem-cell research because *_both types of cells start with the aborted 
fetus_*."  This interpretation of what was said to the reporter could be 
misleading, because, as Ms Vinnedge knows well, neither iPS research nor 
human embryo research literally begin with an "aborted fetus".  Rather, 
the point Ms Vinnedge was trying to make, and as she so stated to the 
reporter, was that *"_both involve the destruction of innocent human 
beings_."*    Ms Vinnedge explained to the reporter that whether or not 
embryos were continuously destroyed in a specific research protocol was 
not the issue; one had to destroy embryos and fetuses in order to 
produce the embryonic cell lines used that specific research protocol to 
begin with.  She thus explained that "From a moral perspective, there's 
no difference between embryonic and reprogrammed adult stem cell 
research because scientists used embryonic stem cells and/or aborted 
fetal cell lines /in order to accomplish the reprogramming/,"  
Similarly, she also pointed out to the reporter that the Bush decision 
on using only those existing embryonic stem cells for federal funding 
was still morally wrong simply because embryos had to have been 
destroyed somewhere along the line -- it's just that tax dollars were 
not used for the actual initial destruction. [Personal communication]  
For an in-depth analysis of both the scientific and ethical concerns 
surrounding iPS research, see Irving, *"Ethical and Scientific Concerns 
About Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Research -- Yamanaka and Thomson"* 
(June 1, 2008), at: 
http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/irv/irv_127concerns.html. -- DNI]]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jul/19/adult-stem-cells-said-to-forget-retooling/

WashingtonTimes.com

Monday, July 19, 2010

*Adult stem cells said to 'forget' retooling*

*Embryonic alternative suffers setback*

By Valerie Richardson 
<http://www.washingtontimes.com/staff/valerie-richardson/> and Kathryn 
Watson <http://www.washingtontimes.com/staff/kathryn-watson/>

Reprogrammed adult stem cells may not be as useful an alternative to 
controversial embryonic stem-cell research as had been hoped, 
researchers found in two articles published Monday.

Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and Johns Hopkins University 
published an article online in the prestigious journal Nature finding 
that such adult stem cells remain fundamentally different from embryonic 
stem cells and are no better at curing diseases in mice.

Many in the medical community and among pro-lifers have hoped harvesting 
embryonic cells, which destroys the days-old human embryos and has 
provoked intense ethical and moral criticism, could be avoided if 
scientists could manipulate adult cells to act as if they were embryonic 
stem cells.

Called "induced pluripotent stem cells" (or iPS), the altered adult 
cells "forget" they were once cells naturally "programmed" to become 
liver cells, lung cells, skin cells, etc. This would make them, 
theoretically, as useful as embryonic cells for a variety of miracle 
cures, especially for degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.

It turns out, the studies say, that they don't forget.

"Our data indicate that nuclear transfer [from embryonic stem cells] is 
more effective at establishing the ground state of pluripotency than 
factor-based reprogramming [of adult stem cells], which can leave an 
epigenetic memory of the tissue of origin that may influence efforts at 
directed differentiation for applications in disease modelling or 
treatment," the article's findings stated.

A second, separate group of scientists led by Konrad Hochedlinger, a 
stem-cell biologist at Massachusetts General Hospital Center for 
Regenerative Medicine, published similar findings Monday in Nature 
Biotechnology. That group said the adult cells obtained from mice 
exhibited distinct patterns that could not be erased.

Kitai Kim, a postdoctoral fellow and one of the leading researchers on 
the project published in Nature, explained that older cells are more set 
in their ways and difficult to reprogram. His group worked with mice, 
reprogramming different kinds of cells with varying results.

The needed DNA change "was incompletely reset in [reprogrammed adult] 
cells compared to nuclear-transfer stem cells," said co-senior author 
Andrew Feinberg. "This paper opens our eyes to the restricted lineage of 
iPS cells. ... The lineage restriction by tissue of origin is both a 
blessing and a curse. You might want lineage restriction in some cases, 
but you may also have to do more work to make the iPS cells more totally 
pluripotent."

Those who oppose using embryos for stem-cell research have long argued 
in favor of replacing them with adult stem cells. Critics have argued 
that embryonic stem cells are scientifically superior to adult stem 
cells. And the researchers said the findings demonstrate that the 
scientific focus needs to be on embryonic stem-cell research.

Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of 
Pennsylvania, said the results of the study weren't surprising from a 
scientific perspective, but could still have enormous implications for 
future research.

"A giant balloon of enthusiasm just got the air let out of it," said Mr. 
Caplan.

"What this shows is that ideology and values are no substitute for 
science," he said. "The science on this is still early, and the values 
and moral beliefs are going to have to wait until the science has told 
us what's possible."

Debi Vinnedge, executive director of the Children of God for Life, which 
opposes using embryonic stem-cell research, said the study wasn't 
particularly helpful in resolving moral issues surrounding stem-cell 
research because both types of cells start with the aborted fetus.

"From a moral perspective, there's no difference between embryonic and 
reprogrammed adult stem cells because scientists used embryonic stem 
cells and/or aborted fetal cell lines in order to accomplish the 
reprogramming," Ms. Vinnedge said.

The research did show, however, that while reprogrammed stem cells may 
not be as versatile as embryonic ones, they can still be quite useful.

Thousands of patients around the world have been treated with adult stem 
cells, but no humans as of yet have been given cells derived from 
embryos in an approved trial.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
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