manouli
12-28-2006, 01:26 PM
Stem Cell Wars
Stem Cell Wars: Inside Stories from the Frontlines, Eve Herold, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
Eve Herold’s book puts a persuasive case for more biomedical research on human and animal stem cells, both to advance our knowledge of human biology and to provide the possibility of cures for debilitating diseases like diabetes, Parkinson’s, spinal cord injury, heart failure, cancer and more.
The book will be published in Britain early in 2007, and it’s a must-read for anyone who wants a better understanding of the current state of stem-cell science as well as an insight into the political and ethical controversies that are holding back developments in this new and exciting area of research. I talked to Herold about her book just before Christmas.
As director of public policy research at the Genetics Policy Institute in America, Herold argues passionately for taking medicine to a new level. She writes: ‘Disease and disability are already enormous drains on economies worldwide, but we are at the beginning of the biggest ageing boom in history.’ She believes that medical science has made some spectacular strides in the twentieth century, stating: ‘In fact, more effective treatments and cures were discovered during the last century than in all prior human history.’ Millions of people have benefited from new drugs, vaccines, diagnostic techniques such as x-rays, CT scans and MRIs, and our ability to carry out ever-more complex surgical procedures.
Although Herold recognises that the dramatic increase in life expectancy in the last century was mainly due to the development of modern sewage systems and water purification methods, she argues that medical progress has also played an important part. ‘If anyone doubts the march of medical progress’, she writes, ‘the most dramatic testament is the fact that, between 1900 and 1999, the average life span for Americans increased from 47 years to 77’.
What stem cell research may allow us to do, in the not too distant future, is provide cures for diseases that until now we have only been able to manage. But the research will not progress at an acceptable rate unless we have out some hard arguments about the need for experimentation. Stem Cells Wars provides ample ammunition against those who are trying to halt the research, both by putting the case for pursuing knowledge for knowledge’s sake and by confronting the ethical arguments – made both by religious and political figures – head-on.
My only concern is that Herold may have hyped the imminence of the medical benefits. When I asked her whether the medical promise of stem cell research may have been oversold, she responded: ‘Of course there is a very real danger of that. We are at such an early stage in the course of this research that there are a lot of unknowns.’ She pointed out that we have 30 years of animal research ‘that shows the proof of principle many times over’. But human research is at a very early stage – human embryonic stem cells were only isolated for the first time in 1998.
Herold argues that what we need is more laboratory research on adult stem cells, embryonic stem cells and therapeutic cloning. At the same time we need more animal research. Only then, she points out, will we be able to move on to clinical trials.
more:
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/2663/
Stem Cell Wars: Inside Stories from the Frontlines, Eve Herold, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
Eve Herold’s book puts a persuasive case for more biomedical research on human and animal stem cells, both to advance our knowledge of human biology and to provide the possibility of cures for debilitating diseases like diabetes, Parkinson’s, spinal cord injury, heart failure, cancer and more.
The book will be published in Britain early in 2007, and it’s a must-read for anyone who wants a better understanding of the current state of stem-cell science as well as an insight into the political and ethical controversies that are holding back developments in this new and exciting area of research. I talked to Herold about her book just before Christmas.
As director of public policy research at the Genetics Policy Institute in America, Herold argues passionately for taking medicine to a new level. She writes: ‘Disease and disability are already enormous drains on economies worldwide, but we are at the beginning of the biggest ageing boom in history.’ She believes that medical science has made some spectacular strides in the twentieth century, stating: ‘In fact, more effective treatments and cures were discovered during the last century than in all prior human history.’ Millions of people have benefited from new drugs, vaccines, diagnostic techniques such as x-rays, CT scans and MRIs, and our ability to carry out ever-more complex surgical procedures.
Although Herold recognises that the dramatic increase in life expectancy in the last century was mainly due to the development of modern sewage systems and water purification methods, she argues that medical progress has also played an important part. ‘If anyone doubts the march of medical progress’, she writes, ‘the most dramatic testament is the fact that, between 1900 and 1999, the average life span for Americans increased from 47 years to 77’.
What stem cell research may allow us to do, in the not too distant future, is provide cures for diseases that until now we have only been able to manage. But the research will not progress at an acceptable rate unless we have out some hard arguments about the need for experimentation. Stem Cells Wars provides ample ammunition against those who are trying to halt the research, both by putting the case for pursuing knowledge for knowledge’s sake and by confronting the ethical arguments – made both by religious and political figures – head-on.
My only concern is that Herold may have hyped the imminence of the medical benefits. When I asked her whether the medical promise of stem cell research may have been oversold, she responded: ‘Of course there is a very real danger of that. We are at such an early stage in the course of this research that there are a lot of unknowns.’ She pointed out that we have 30 years of animal research ‘that shows the proof of principle many times over’. But human research is at a very early stage – human embryonic stem cells were only isolated for the first time in 1998.
Herold argues that what we need is more laboratory research on adult stem cells, embryonic stem cells and therapeutic cloning. At the same time we need more animal research. Only then, she points out, will we be able to move on to clinical trials.
more:
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/2663/