September 30, 2010

From Washington Update (Family Research Council):

September is National Sickle Cell Awareness Month. And most people don’t realize that one in every 500 African-Americans has the disease. Sickle cell anemia is a serious, life-threatening blood disease that causes pain, chronic anemia and tiredness, and can lead to organ failure, stroke and death. Adult stem cells are considered the only curative treatment, according to medical authorities. A couple of years ago, FRC had the privilege of meeting Joseph Davis Jr. He was born with severe sickle cell disease, and his parents were told that he probably wouldn’t live to be a teenager. But after receiving adult stem cells from his brother Isaac’s umbilical cord blood, Joe Jr. is now just a normal boy. On FRC’s Stem Cell Research Facts site, you can read how adult stem cells are saving the lives of sickle cell anemia patients. While you’re there, don’t miss hearing Joe Jr. walgreens ivermectin ’s miraculous story of how “My Brother Saved My Life. can ivermectin spray be used on guinea pigs

But despite all these success stories, there’s no shortage of scientists who are clinging to the dead-end research of embryonic stem cells. Yesterday, a U.S. Court of Appeals made its latest move in an ongoing legal chess match over the taxpayer-funding of embryonic stem cell research. As part of the decision, judges granted a stay of the temporary injunction that had stopped federal funding of the life-destroying research. The Appeals Court will still have to rule on whether to completely overrule the injunction or allow it go into force while the main question of federal funding is being decided at the District Court level. The bottom line is that the National Institutes for Health (NIH) can keep rushing money out the door for embryonic stem cell research while the courts weigh the issue.

In the meantime, both sides have asked Judge Lamberth to move ahead at the District Court level with a ruling on whether the Dickey-Wicker amendment passed by Congress prohibits federal taxpayer-funding of any human embryonic stem cell research. The Senate recently held a hearing on stem cell research, but it’s unclear whether Congress will make any legislative moves before the elections or in a lame-duck session. ivermectin tablet side effects in telugu After all they do have a few things left on their plate–like passing a budget to fund the government!