WHAT YOU KNOW WILL KILL YOU

By Dr. David Eifrig Jr.

 excerpt:

In 2000, there was a JAMA article (this is the American Medical Association's main journal), which estimated that 225,000 deaths occur every year in hospitals from unnecessary causes. Read that again... almost a quarter of a million people dying at the hands of error. This is more than the number of people dying from lung cancer every year... more than the number of people dying from stroke every year.

When it comes to health care... What do I do?

1.         I encourage everyone to question his or her medical care. If you feel like it's not right... I guarantee it's NOT! Speak up.

2.         I look up questions online and in the published literature searches, such as Pub Med. Many of the abstracts make sense and can easily be applied to your case.

3.         I demand that everyone on the health care team use common sense and stick to the facts. If they don't know, they should say so and find out.

 WHAT YOU KNOW WILL KILL YOU

By Dr. David Eifrig Jr.

It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble.

It's what you know for sure that just ain't so

‚Mark Twain

As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns ‚ the ones we don't know we don't know.

‚Donald Rumsfeld

They say things come in threes, and this holiday season was no exception.

The first: A week before Christmas, my sister in Minneapolis was taking her annual two-week reprieve from her daycare. For more than 25 years, she has somehow taken care of other people's children... and is now starting to care for a second generation of kids. I truly don't know how or why she does it. Don't get me wrong; I love kids, just not 10 at a time. But I'm always amazed to watch her work: Her home is crowded with all these kids so well-behaved and so attentive to their world... I almost wish she had raised me.

But this Christmas break was tough.

She was especially nervous about this break because she was having knee surgery. If anything went wrong, her kids would suffer. They would be without their daily culture and without their pseudo-mom. I assured her that the surgery is simple, and she'd be dodging linebackers in a few weeks.

Thirty-six hours after surgery, I got a panicked call from my mother. Cathy was in the ER and was having trouble breathing. It turned out that she had a blood clot or two lodged in her lungs. Worse, I suspected it would happen‚¦

The second: Around this same time, another dear friend who lives in New York City called to tell me she was having emergency surgery for possible ovarian cancer. I was floored. I had recently eaten lunch with her and she never mentioned disease, pain, or anything medical. And trust me, since the day I started medical school, most of my friends ask me about any and all medical ailments.

Her story didn't make any sense. Her family history includes no breast, ovarian, or cervical cancer. She didn't have many symptoms of anything, other than an occasional bout of tiredness and a rare, vague abdominal pain. I quizzed her incessantly about all this and finally discovered that her doctor had ordered a test used to monitor cancer after it has been treated, a so-called CA-125 test. This made no sense to use the test before a diagnosis, but she assured me her doctor was trustworthy and knew what he was doing.

I even told her the old saying... "If you go to a barber, you're gonna get a haircut"... You may already know that surgeons were barbers and vice versa ‚ hence the red and white poles from the bloodied bandages hung out to dry. I think the historical innuendo was lost on her, but at least I tried to discourage her surgery.

Needless to say the planned small-incision laparoscopy turned into a full-blown abdominal surgery, but with no cancer found. Sadly, her mobility is extremely limited as she heals, and she may not be able to work for several months. What makes this story bad is that I suspected it would happen...

The third: Last week, a good friend's ex-husband suffered a heart attack. I have been in his room during much of the crisis. I have not identified myself as a doctor to the hospital staff and have tried to stay out of the way. But I am able to listen and ask pointed questions.

Last night, he was leaving for a minor procedure and knew the room where they were heading was cold. When he asked for extra blankets, a nurse told him that he couldn't have one because he had a "low-grade temperature."

"You know, they used to think that letting the fevers go would kill the bugs," the nurse said‚¦

("Uh, yes it still does, you idiot," I thought.)

"... but now we know that he could overheat and die."

I said, "Oh, we wouldn't want a simple blanket or two to do that now would we?"

"No, sir," she responded.

Later that night, I asked if he was getting any food? Multivitamins? Vitamin C? Enzyme CoQ10? The nurse informed me that they have to be careful what food he eats. And so he remains hungry and has been for three days. Living on an occasional salt-less broth. She claimed that all of this is done to protect his heart and help him recover. What was most frustrating is that his ex-wife told me to just stop "talking about things that could be done" and just let them trust their doctor.

All three cases remind me how dangerous and deadly health care can be.

The night of my sister's surgery, doctors strapped her leg in some contraption that moved the leg mechanically and "exercised it so it would heal faster." When I first heard this, it just didn't make sense. I even told my sister to not follow the instructions. You see, after cutting and bleeding the body needs rest, ice, compression, and elevation. In fact, there is even a mnemonic for this: R-I-C-E. Clots and tissue trying to heal hours after the trauma of surgery do not need movement and "exercise" of any sort. Think about how a clot on your skin forms, turns to a scab, and then falls off days later. Imagine if you started picking at it and moving it around hours after your injury. It would take a long time to heal and would probably not heal correctly.

My sister was ripe for a blood clot and luckily she didn't die from it ‚ as happens with many blood clots going to the lungs from the legs. Frighteningly, when I asked her to ask her doctors to explain the original plan and the connection with improper forming of clots and healing tissues, they responded with "hmmm, that makes sense... we'll have to look into that and ask some other colleagues." Damn, she could have died.

My friend with the "suspected cancer" implicitly trusted and believed whatever her doctor said. Yet a quick literature search and half a brain in logic would have put her odds of cancer in the 1 in 1,000s. And the absurdity of using a test meant for following cancer AFTER cancer is treated is beyond my comprehension. For some reason, our minds tend to ascribe significance to numerical values regardless of logic. For example, a test might give readings of 25 and 30, and people assume that 30 is more significant than 25. But in fact, the test's sensitivity might be five points, so no true difference exists between the numbers.

In my friend's case, the test is meant to look for large increases or decreases of the protein CA-125 after a cancer is removed. It cannot screen for cancers because healthy individuals don't share a specific, "normal" level of CA-125.

Beyond the irrational choice to operate based on lab values, my friend had a history of abdominal surgery that the surgeon used as an excuse to explain the larger incision than originally planned. He apparently said "that old surgery made this surgery much more difficult." When I heard this I became very upset. Was he unaware of the prior surgery? Did he not ultrasound her belly prior? I wondered why the surgeon didn't just make a small incision, look around for the alleged cancer, remove ONE of the worst-looking ovaries, test it for cancer, and then plan accordingly. My friend would be out running in Central Park and still have most of her body parts remaining. The risks the surgeon took with her abdomen in the name of "cleaning things up" are beyond my comprehension.

And she too could have died.

Finally, the guy with the myocardial infarction (or "heart attack") is in desperate need of antioxidants. (And he probably needs a warm blanket or two to keep him comfortable so he can rest.) Research has shown that things like vitamin C and CoQ10 help patients heal faster and improve the functions of the heart. In Europe and Russia, doctors often give these to anyone with heart failure. Also studies show CoQ10 helps prevent damage after heart attacks. In addition, with all the stress, he is likely low on many of the vitamins found in a multivitamin, especially the Bs, Zinc, and E. The side effects are minimal, and the upside potential huge. I guess what bothers me the most is that the nurses and the doctors aren't thinking about these issues. Perhaps worse, they're making things up ‚ like the warm blanket and broth responses. I also heard that one of the nurses told a family member that he has sepsis (which is deadly) because he has a temperature (which is common after trauma to the heart). And so the doctor has to run blood tests, which means more painful sticks of a needle to confirm or refute the sepsis notion. Guess what? Each time he is stuck, his risk of infection increases. I hope he doesn't die from the thoughtless care.

As I wrote in a piece almost three years ago:

In 2000, there was a JAMA article (this is the American Medical Association's main journal), which estimated that 225,000 deaths occur every year in hospitals from unnecessary causes. Read that again... almost a quarter of a million people dying at the hands of error. This is more than the number of people dying from lung cancer every year... more than the number of people dying from stroke every year.

When it comes to health care... What do I do?

1.         I encourage everyone to question his or her medical care. If you feel like it's not right... I guarantee it's NOT! Speak up.

2.         I look up questions online and in the published literature searches, such as Pub Med. Many of the abstracts make sense and can easily be applied to your case.

3.         I demand that everyone on the health care team use common sense and stick to the facts. If they don't know, they should say so and find out.

Here's to our health,

David Eifrig Jr., M.D., M.B.A

FRED THOMPSON SAID...

On November 20, 2007, Fred Thompson issued the following statement:

"There is exciting news for patients today. In yet another breakthrough for adult cell research, scientists have made normal human skin cells take on the relevant properties of embryonic stem cells. That is in addition to 73 breakthroughs for Adult Stem Cell research to date. There are still no Embryonic Stem Cell breakthroughs. ‚“

Senator Thompson is referring to the list, which came out in October of 2004 and was updated as recently as April 11, 2007, entitled ‚“Benefits of Stem Cells to Human Patients, Adult Stem Cells vs. Embryonic Stem Cells‚ - http://stemcellresearch.org/facts/treatments.htm

The list shows that the use of adult stem cells (ASC) in treatment produced therapeutic benefit for human patients in 73 different diseases. On that same list, the use of embryonic stem cells (ESC) in treatment produced therapeutic benefit for human patients in zero diseases. Or to put it simply, the score is ASC 73, ESC 0. This side by side comparison is a simplified version taken directly from ‚“Peer-reviewed references showing applications of Adult Stem Cells that produce therapeutic benefit for human patients ‚“ http://stemcellresearch.org/facts/asc-refs.pdf

Senator Thompson then said:

"For all who are concerned for patients and their families, the effective, ethical, and compassionate answer is to put our money where the breakthroughs are happening -- in adult research. Using adult cells negates the need for cloning embryos to harvest their stem cells. We all want to find cures to help people with chronic illnesses. Adult cells have provided breakthroughs for many illnesses including ovarian and breast cancer, Juvenile Diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and Sickle Cell Anemia..."

Senator Thompson's position was very quickly attacked with seemingly angry inquisitions of "Where can Americans get these treatments?" As an example, on November 26, 2007, Steven Edwards of Wired Science had this to say:

‚“We at Wired Science think that people suffering from these 73 conditions would love to know where they can receive these cord blood and adult stem-cell treatments. So to Thompson, we issue a challenge: Provide a list of locations where Americans can receive these treatments. If you cannot, your pants are most definitely on fire.‚

I want to thank Steven Edwards of Wired Science for asking one of the most relevant questions of the 21st century! Indeed, it is a terribly important question and one that should concern us all. This is a question that should be asked at every deli counter, around every water cooler, on street corners and during the commercials of Heroes, House, American Idol and Grey's Anatomy. This is a question that people should be shouting from the rooftops of our office buildings, bouncing off the hallway walls of our schools and sharing over the dinner table in our homes.

‚“WHERE CAN AMERICANS GET THESE TREATMENTS!?‚

Where indeed? As I hope Mr. Edwards must be implying, it is tantamount to criminal that the United States does not already have ASC centers available for the treatment of its people. It is unjust and detrimental to the American people that there is not one ASC center in the USA. I'm NOT talking about embryonic stem cell treatment where the moral and ethical implications will take years to unravel and the scientific problems may take decades to solve. I'm talking about ASC treatment where all that is needed is a simple blood or bone marrow donation from the patient. There SHOULD be adult stem cell treatment centers in the US. In fact, there should be ASC treatment centers in every major city in America. There should be an ASC center within one hundred miles of every chronically ill American and we as Americans should have adult stem cell treatment centers on Main Streets, Oak Streets and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevards!

We should be able to wake up; grab our Frappuccino from ‚“Starbucks‚ or ‚“Dunkins‚ and then a quick shot of adult stem cells at the ‚“StemCellMart‚ before heading off to work. Unfortunately, this is not the case. ASC treatments for over two dozen "incurable" diseases are currently available all over the world, on five continents; many in countries that the average American would consider third world, but here in the United States and Canada where we have some of the greatest brain trusts, hospitals, medical schools and facilities there is NOT ONE ASC TREATMENT CENTER.

Does your father, your priest, your uncle, your mother, your sister or your child have Congestive Heart Failure, Cardiomyopathy, Angina, Diabetes-2, or Peripheral Arterial Disease (which usually ends in amputation)? Sorry, but we can't treat them here. But don't worry though, hop onto your wheelchair, grab your oxygen tank, hire a full time nurse for three to four weeks and head for Asia, or Costa Rica, or South America, or to several destinations in Europe.

Does your loved one have Congestive Heart Failure, Cardiomyopathy or Angina? Well, we can't treat them with ASC here in America but no problem, Thailand has been treating hundreds of such no-option patients since 2005 with 75% success (vs. 0%-5% using ‚“standard‚ American cardiology). Do they have Emphysema? Argentina is now treating patients there. If they have Multiple Sclerosis, go to Switzerland where the University of Basel has been using ASC for a decade. Germany is a fun place to visit and they lead the world in number of ASC treatments for heart disease, while India has so many clinics and hospitals treating so many diseases with adult stem cells that it is hard to even keep up with them.

China's major neurological hospitals are so far ahead of the world in adult stem cell treatment of neurological diseases that America, mired in useless debates about embryonics, will never catch up. China is currently treating ALS (Lou Gehrig Disease), Parkinson's (attention Mr. Fox!), traumatic brain injury, Spinal Cord Injury Paralysis (attention candidate Edwards), and, hold your breath, AUTISM. These five diseases comprise about half of the neurological diseases that they are now treating while Americans continue to suffer and die, devoid of any hope. The treatments are not easy and ten shots over five years may be necessary at the current early levels of the science---imagine: ten trips from Paducah to Beijing--- but what is the alternative for these people? There are none in America while the country continuous the insane bickering over something that won't possibly be able to help until after they suffer needlessly for years and die.

I would like to point out that embryonic research is not only permitted in Asia, it is actually the beneficiary of massive government support since 2001. For six years some of the greatest scientists in Asia have researched without restrictions and with full financial and government support. Even some of America's (and Europe's) own scientists, frustrated with the stem cell straight jacket employed on research in the western world, have gone to Asia to research embryonic stem cell therapy and to pursue what they hope will be the miracle cure of tomorrow.

For six years, with a huge brain trust consisting of both eastern and western scientific researchers, with no restrictions on areas of research and with the financial backing of governments, these brilliant men and women have labored to find successful ESC treatments for human beings. For six years they have tried to discover the first successful embryonic stem cell treatment, knowing full well that there was limited to no market for it in the United States due to presumed moral and ethical restrictions. For six years they have watched as one by one, ASC treatments were researched, tested, implemented and found effective. For six years their ASC colleagues were lauded with praise over their accomplishments in treatments of human disease in countries other than America, while they received none. And after six years of unrestricted research they have not found one successful embryonic stem cell treatment, NOT ONE.

I beseech you to help restore our rights to healthy living and freedom of choice. I ask you to assist the American people in getting ASC treatment centers built and in operation. I beg you to spread the word about the successes and the benefits of adult stem cell treatments. In doing so, we can reverse the illogical and unfruitful research, funding and focus on ESC treatment and switch it to its rightful place: on that of adult stem cell research and treatments.

We live in a great time of innovation and discovery and huge reversals of previously held conceptions of ourselves and the world around us. Today we know that the brain can regenerate neurons and cells, which spells great potential for the future of brain disease therapies. Today we've sequenced the human genome down to only 20-25,000 genes, a much more manageable number than previously believed. Finally, and possibly most importantly, today we know that adult stem cells are successfully treating diseases all over the world which were just a short time ago considered ‚“incurable‚.

Unfortunately, our plight as humans is that the more we extend our lives the more diseases we ultimately encounter. So be it. But isn't it obvious that ASC are the keystone for the cure or even the cure itself for a huge number of significant diseases? At the very least, one must admit that the mammoth potential in ASC is undeniable and the staggering positive results outside of the USA serves to substantiate that potential fully and unequivocally. ESC, on the other hand, have unfortunately not yet shown a single breakthrough. Not a single therapy dared to be even tested on humans. And it's not for lack of trying.

Let us shift the focus, readjust the attitude, and direct the funding and the research finally towards where they belong. ASC research has already been proven as THE ultimate weapon against the diseases of our time. ASC treatments have already done so and been proven extremely effective in many countries throughout the world. Let's embrace this monumental discovery of seemingly unlimited potential. Let's accept and allow the magic of ASC to become a force in our arsenal to combat the debilitating illnesses that are weakening our country from the inside out. Let's recognize and encourage ASC treatments as the rightful science and the harbinger of the cures of tomorrow in the United States. Every moment America wastes on the never-to-be-needed science fiction of embryonics, people are unnecessarily dying.

Thank you for your immediate attention to this matter and I await your written response.

Don Margolis

Founder S.A.I.L., NOW!

STEEL CAGE BATTLE ROYALE GRUDGE MATCH!!

A CHINESE GUY WITH PARKINSON'S DISEASE WALKS INTO A BAR...

You never heard this one? Chances are that soon, you never will!

While Parkinson's won't make it into a USA clinical trial for at least five years thanks to scientists and religionists who both spend all their time attacking the other, China continues to forge ahead, successfully treating Neurological disorders with Adult stem cells. Does anyone in the USA know or cares that China will have already treated a thousand victims, while Americans with Parkinson's continue to suffer and die by the droves?

www.stemcellschina.com

STEM CELL STORY OF THE YEAR 2007:

‚“The Stem Cell Wars Are Over!‚

By Don Margolis,

Founder, S.A.I.L. NOW

Jamie Thomson, the father of embryonic research since he isolated the first line of embryonic stem cells in 1998, recently discovered, along with a Japanese associate, a method of creating faux-embryonic stem cells from adult skin cells, as announced in November 2007.

Virtually all of the stem cell writers in America declared the stem cell wars were over. ‚“We can make embryonic stem cells from skin, so there are no moral issues!‚ they exclaimed. As is normal for embryonic publicists, they were years premature. We are no closer to real cures for real humans than we were before the new miracle. Embryonic cures cannot sail, this decade or next.

On the day after the big press release, I wrote that the Thomson announcement was a non-event; only that the embryonic movement needed its ‚“miracle press release of the month,‚ and Thomson gave them one, inadvertently I am sure, since Thomson has never been anything but an honest man of science. His level-headed statement on the so-called miracle is refreshing when compared to the cheerleaders: "I believe these new results, while they do not eliminate that controversy, is probably the beginning of the end of that controversy," Thompson said. ''Even though we have this nice new source of cells, it doesn't solve all the downstream problems of getting them into the body in useful form.‚ Now you know why I respect the good doctor as much as I do.

You see, I look at embryonic stem cells from one perspective only: ‚“Does this advance in knowledge bring the treatment of incurable diseases by implanting embryonic stem cells one step closer to mankind.‚ In this case, the answer is a resounding ‚“NO!‚

Let us take a look from the real world of science rather than the science fiction world of the embryonic cheerleaders.

The majority of these cheerleaders in America do not know that embryonic cells come from cancer cells and those cancer cells come along with embryonic stem cells in every lab in the world; witnessed by the tumor growth generated among the animal subjects in the animal trials..... a major obstacle that must be overcome before an ESC can be implanted into a human being. The reason they don't know it is that the word ‚“cancer‚ has been prohibited from being mentioned in association with ‚“embryonic‚ in virtually every newspaper and medical journal in the land.

But the movement's censors could not keep the word ‚“cancer‚ out of the Thomson promotion, since Thomson put it in himself, as did his colleague Dr.Yamanaka and other quoted serious researchers. The same thing happened in 2006 when an honest embryonic researcher at the University of Rochester, after his team virtually cured his lab animals of Parkinson's, was forced to watch as those doomed animals all developed tumors. ‚“Cancer‚ appeared in the reporting medical journal and the spin doctors were forced to use it in the newspapers. The researcher was brutally honest about the events, which is why the Washington Post refused to print his most damning quotes and why the censors are still doing their best to keep ‚“cancer‚ and ‚“embryonic‚ from appearing in the same newspaper articles. You won't find it in USA medical journals either, unless the reported event screams it out, as it did in Rochester.

That, and Thomson's efforts to keep the truth in view (not an easy task in America, even for him) was the clue that convinced me this whole ‚“miracle‚ was virtually meaningless as to the only thing that matters: ‚“Where are the embryonic cures for human beings, or even animals, for that matter?‚ The answer is ‚“further away than they seemed to be in before the announcement---and that was real far away.‚ Over the intervening weeks, serious embryonic people started to realize the truth. Please note I am not saying the latest breakthrough isn't important, only that it does not bring embryonic implants into humans any closer.

Why?

As a comparison, let us look at the largest USA phase2 adult stem cell clinical trial for chronic heart disease. Baxter, a huge medical device corporation, is sponsoring that one, and they got FDA approval in 2004. They hope to finish phase two in 2010, installing one of America's leading stem cell heart researchers, Dr. Douglas Losordo, to run it. If they stay lucky (with Losordo in charge, I'm betting ‚“yes‚) they will get FDA approval in 2010 for phase3. Another two years would be a minimum to complete it. Again, if their luck holds up, they could get final approval for general useby 2013, nine years after their 2004 phase1 approval.

Add to the calculation the fact that adult stem cells do not carry cancer and also that Baxter's stem cells come from the individual patient so there is zero risk of rejection by the patient's immune system. That makes Dr. Losordo's job ‚“easy.‚ Easy = 9 years of FDA trials!

Now let's look at ‚“not-so-easy,‚ in fact at something so complicated, no one yet knows what all the traps down the road may bring. In a word, let's take a closer look at EMBRYONICS than you will ever get in any American medical journal; nor in the giants of pro-embryonic liberal print media in NY, WashDC and LA; nor from any of the 80% of politically (but not scientifically) correct academic institutions to which most scientists are connected.

FIRST, Thomson and friends must confirm their findings, meaning that some other research group must duplicate them elsewhere; and the consensus seems to be a year or two. Merely SOP in science, no argument there.

SECOND, researchers must conquer the cancer issue if they even dream of the FDA considering an embryonic stem cell trial. Conquering that embryonic cancer cell has proved impossible to overcome during the decade since Thomson's initial discovery and no one is even claiming serious progress. They like to blame their failings on Bush, but this ignores thousands of researchers working around-the-clock around the world, mostly in countries with government funding and NO government restrictions. The manipulations of the pro-embryonic media prove how desperate they are to keep that information from their readers, the majority of whom are ‚“true-believers.‚ Their readers, overwhelming pro-embryonic, have no idea that cancer is even a problem, let alone that nobody, not even Thomson with his latest triumph, has yet come up with a way to avoid it.

THIRD, they must conquer the rejection problem, a problem ‚“solved‚ by transplant cardiologists who have no choice but to permanently compromise the dying heart patient's immune system to prevent rejection of the new healthy heart. Permanently compromising the patient's immune system is NOT an option for embryonic researchers.

FOURTH. The availability of embryos for research, Bush or no Bush, is a problem. Without a doubt, the cost of research embryos adds to the already super-high cost of embryonic research. For a complete report on this issue from the Rand thinktank, click here: http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9038/index1.html

FIFTH, and this will come as a shock to those who closely follow the movement, is that the only bragging point of embryonics is that their cells are ‚“pluripotent,‚ which means they can presumably become any cell in the human body, and therefore help any part of the body get better. Some are beginning to realize what I said in 2006: ‚“Pluripotentcy is a two edged-sword.‚

The best researchers in the world, on five continents, all know that science cannot begin to control the embryonic stem cell's ability and desire to become whatever it darn well pleases. Good embryonic researchers can train their cells to significantly help patients with many different diseases, but once the cells are finished doing that, off they go, wherever and whenever and however they wish and that ‚“however‚ too often results in tumors. In two words, as of the beginning of 2008, embryonic stem cells are unstable and unpredictable. The Curse of the Pluripotent! But read on: it gets worse.

Put it all together.

2010: They confirm Thomson's skin cell miracle.

2012: They conquer the cancer and the rejection problems. I don't really believe just two years. However, I want to give them a best-case scenario, so I will also ignore the instability factor.

2013: FDA approves the first embryonic clinical trial.

2023: Ten years to get through three phases of clinical trials is the minimum under today's rules....using long-proven safe and stable adult stem cells. I doubt that ten years is possible for embryonics, given their instability and unpredictability, but let's use it.

Too many snippets are coming out of the real world of science to allow such an easy path to human treatment. The strange thing is that the leading embryonic scientists in America, but not the media giants, are actually pulling in their horns after the Thomson announcement!

First thing I noticed was the fear of the ‚“reprogramming‚ that Dr. Yamanaka used to revert the skin cells all the way back to embryonic cells. Embryonic stem cells are already unpredictable, and Yamanaka's method figures to raise the level of unpredictability. That makes them impossible to use on humans. That is not Don Margolis talking; this is from Dr. George Q. Daley, a stem cell researcher at Children's Hospital Boston, who concludes:

"But for the ultimate goal of getting cells into a patient, it's a lot less clear. These cells may never be useful for direct therapy." Amen, Dr. Daley! For a guy who earns his living in embryonics, your honesty is refreshing!

Across town there is another embryonic research leader who is even more adamant than Dr. Daley. From Boston.com:

In what is even more of a lurking threat, the process uses retroviruses to carry the genes into cells. These viruses can disrupt the normal function of DNA and also can spur the birth of cancer cells.

Some proponents of reprogramming argue that problems from genetic modification and use of viruses are purely technical and easily surmountable. But other stem cell researchers are skeptical that reprogrammed cells or specialized cells produced from them will ever win approval for use in humans. "It will never be approved [by the FDA] to put these cells in a patient," said biologist Douglas A. Melton, co director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. "The retrovirus can be a Trojan horse that can carry all sorts of problems." (Thanks to Boston.com)

What is astonishing about these quotes is that they both come from Boston, the hotbed of embryonic exaggeration and adult stem cell denigration. FYI, there is no bigger embryonic research center in the world than Harvard, and the only difference of opinion between Co-Director Melton and myself is that he believes that real embryonic cells can, someday soon, safely be put into a human being, and I do not. I repeat, only an opinion, on both our parts.

Yet, I am hopeful about the advances in embryonic stem cell research and the promise they hold for treating humans in the future. However, as you can see, those leading the research, especially Dr. Thomson and now Dr. Melton, understand and freely admit that there are still significant practical hurdles to overcome. In the meantime, adult stem cells offer a safe, proven alternative with the power to save and improve lives now; lives that are unreasonably being forced to remain hopeless, then being needlessly pushed to the grave, rather than to be treated with what works now.

Finally, the latest Thomson/Yamanaka achievement may have application to something other than the long-dismal hope of implanting still-poisonous embryonic stem cells into humans. Geneticists see now the real possibility of generating cell lines from the patient without using problem-filled ‚“nuclear transfer,‚ their only hope up to now. That will allow them to take those cells, specific to one sick patient, regress them back to the embryo stage, and study the difference between those sick cells and healthy embryonic cells of other people---a huge step in determining the cause of diseases.

More imminent, however, is using embryonic cells to "teach" adult cells how to do their jobs more efficiently. Doctors have already used this method to improve rates of cardio repair and regenesis and, so, far, no evidence of "tumorigenesis," which mean they have avoided the tumor trap and still used the power of the embryonic cells. Dr. Thomson, as always, my hat is off to you! Dr. Yamanaka, please don't stop here....keep moving forward.

DM

Don Margolis started the world's first commercial company to actually treat and improve the lives of dying heart patients using adult stem cells, with about 200 successes to date. He is not a doctor, but a charter member of the American Academy of Actuaries. He is neutral on the issue of embryonic stem cell morality. He never mentions the subject and will not discuss it, believing that the debate itself does nothing but take the public's attention away from the only thing that matters; i.e. thousands of Americans are dying unnecessarily each month because of the senseless debate. His one and only mission is to ‚“S.A.I.L. NOW‚ (Save And Improve Lives NOW) with long-proven-safe adult stem cells, rather than in 2023, if then, using embryonic stem cells.

Don Margolis can be reached 24/7/365  at  1 (215) 764-6312