Little Ricky’s Obama-Rama Stem Cell Slam

(And by the way, I also posted here.)

Before I say another word, here is a Rasmussen link showing that 52 percent of those polled approved of President Barack Obama’s loosening of federal funding restrictions on embryonic stem cell research here (Rasmussen trends conservative, so that number is likely to be higher), with embryonic stem cell research enjoying the majority of public support in 2007 here, with even most Republicans supporting it in 2005, as noted here.

So basically, there really shouldn’t be much more to say about this (at least, you would think so, though I certainly respect someone’s right to dissent on this matter). However, you can leave it to PA’s former Senator Man-On-Dog to wax indignant over it, as follows…

Thanks to both high-resolution fetal ultrasounds and the recent debate over partial-birth abortions, opinion polls now reflect a pro-life shift, most especially among our youth.

I don’t know how exactly that ties into the statistics I linked to above, but the facts have never let our former PA senator from Northern Virginia obstruct his talking points before, so why should he let that happen now?

Little Ricky also tells us…

But are any treatments with embryonic stem cells being used today? No.

Are there any anticipated in the near future? No.

Gee, I don’t know how to break the news to former Senator "Eye Of Mordor," but this story tells us the following…

A human embryonic stem cell therapy initially developed at UC Irvine will become the first in the world to be tested in humans, following approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The Geron Corp. of Menlo Park refined the drug and will test the safety of it in a small number of people with (sp) acute spinal cord injuries, the company says in a news release. The company filed the application seeking approval of the drug, which is known as GRNOPC1.

Geron is building on work by Hans Keirstead and Gabriel Nistor, a pair of UCI neuroscientists who caused a sensation in science circles when they found a way to temporarily restore limited movement in paralyzed rats. (Animation of the basic research.)

Santorum also tells us…

Are there adult stem-cell therapies being used today? Yes.

He’s actually correct about that (shockingly enough); he’s referring to replacing the cells in bone marrow that are destroyed by certain types of chemotherapy. However, that is the only “adult stem-cell therapy” that I have been able to determine to this point.

For more information on this, here is a map showing which countries of the world have progressed concerning stem cell development and which have not (the U.S. policy is considered “flexible,” and curiously, we have not banned human reproductive cloning as of yet).

Also, this takes you to a pretty thorough discussion of Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer, which is creating a cloned embryo to harvest cells from it, along with a very thorough ethical discussion that asks, among other things, why we can’t harvest from a blastocyst (as some see it) when we can harvest from a corpse (shouldn’t both stages of humanity, if you will, receive the same respect)?

In addition, this prior post tells you how far ahead of us EU scientists are by now in the science of embryonic stem cell research, and finally, this tells you about Shelbie and Jeff Oppenheimer, who live with ALS, one of the diseases for which a cure is being sought through stem cell research.

And one more thing: I just DARE Little Ricky to go after Nancy Reagan on this (here).

Update: Nice to see that Santorum knows as much about the economy as he does about science (here).