Stem cell Debate

[charee]

Moved Topic - Rerun - Moderator

Not sure if this  should go in this place BUT it does Mention dialysis , please move it of needed, thanks  We have just had stem cell research passed in Parliament, Kidney health Aust send me this press release. A long way off but maybe a  good start or Not ?
Media Release
 
7 December 2006 
 
 
 

Kidney Health Australia Welcomes Success of
Stem Cell Research Bill
Kidney Health Australia today welcomed the passing of the Stem Cell Research Bill in Federal Parliament saying if it was successful it could help cope with the epidemic of Kidney disease which was confronting Australia.

 The organisation had backed the development of the Private Members Bill by former Health Minister Senator Kaye Patterson to put the issue on the Parliamentary agenda.
Anne Wilson CEO of Kidney Health Australia said, "The organisation was already funding valuable stem cell research which was aimed at providing people with the opportunity to repair their own kidneys".

Image right: Anne Wilson CEO of Kidney Health Australia

"This is a long path to success but we need to be exploring every avenue possible to try and create a system which allows for kidney repair and offers an alternative to dialysis which people have to endure to stay alive when in end stage kidney failure."

"Kidney Disease, the silent killer, causes or contributes to at least 9.5% of all deaths in Australia".

"Apart from the cost to the community the amount of human suffering is tragic and one only has to visit a dialysis unit to view the human cost of kidney disease in Australia," Ms Wilson said.

Media Enquiries:
Anne Wilson CEO Kidney Health Australia Mobile: 0400 165 391
Ron Smith Corporate Media Communications (03) 9818 5700 Mobile: 0417 329 201


 
 
 


 
 

[Sluff]

Nice article but like everything else some dummy will screw up and use this in a negative way.

[BigSky]

I think a bigger question in this stem cell debate in all countries is why private industry is not jumping with both feet into this arena. 

Maybe its nothing but doesnt anyone else wonder why private industry wants the governments to be the ones funding this research when the first to the market with cures with stem cells stand to make billions of dollars?

[Zach]

I think a bigger question in this stem cell debate in all countries is why private industry is not jumping with both feet into this arena. 

Maybe its nothing but doesnt anyone else wonder why private industry wants the governments to be the ones funding this research when the first to the market with cures with stem cells stand to make billions of dollars?

You'd be surprised to learn that so much basic research comes from various government grants ... mainly in different forms directed to medical colleges and universities around the country, as well as research groups such as the Howard Hughes Institute and the Salk Institute.  And of course there are the federal institutes of health.  Then private industry comes in and moves it from basic science to applied science.  Of course there are exceptions ...       

[LightLizard]

I think a bigger question in this stem cell debate in all countries is why private industry is not jumping with both feet into this arena. 

Maybe its nothing but doesnt anyone else wonder why private industry wants the governments to be the ones funding this research when the first to the market with cures with stem cells stand to make billions of dollars?

perhaps it might be because of the fact that governments have literally billions tied up in the cancer and dialysis industry. not to mention the pharmacuetical industry.
like the oil companies. don't tell me that with current technology that we couldn't be using another fuel-source that was less destructive to the environment.

i recently read about an experiment with stem cells in which a mouse's kidneys were deliberately put into failure, and then it was injected with treated stem cells and the kidneys re-generated.
this, to me, is the best hope we have, really. or at least, the best hope i have.
http://www.newdrugs.com/stemcells/2006/04/bone-marrow-stem-cells-help-mouse.html

 i've pretty much abandoned the idea of a kidney transplant for me. dialysis seems to do a reasonable job of keeping me alive, so far, and the horror stories i've heard and read about transplant rejections, side-effects of anti-rejection drugs and the like, are enough to make me feel that my 58 years on the planet should be enough. any more is just a bonus.

both of my young daughters, when i told them my kidneys were failing, both of them sang out at the same time, 'daddy, you can have one of mine!' talk about tears! but, i told them that i would not even consider taking one of their kidneys. i've had a pretty good life and this world isn't getting any cleaner. those girls need both their kidneys to make the most of their lives, as far as i'm concerned....

love

~LL~

[thegrammalady]

good to see sombody, somewhere has some sense. now if they could just spread it around

[LightLizard]

Now there is broad consensus amongst scientists that stem cells need not be derived from living embryos at all, but can be obtained from several sources that do not require the destruction of a fetus. This should silence the oppossers of the research, hopefully, and it should only take a century or two for the politicians to catch up. Guess I'll have to be patient...


love

~LL~