IPS Cells

**Ristaron** · 04-09-2008, 06:20 PM

How's this, you Catholic hypocrites:

Quote:

The medical excitement that surrounds embryonic stem cells is founded on their ability to develop into any of the 200 or more types of tissue in the human body. Culture them correctly, and it should be possible to make replacements for the neurons and beta cells that go awry in Parkinson's disease and diabetes respectively.

Until recently it was thought that only stem cells taken from early embryos have this “pluripotent” capacity. While adult cells might be useful for some purposes, they have been considered too specialised to allow regenerative medicine to realise its full potential. That, though, may have changed with the work of Shinya Yamanaka. In a remarkable series of papers published over the past year, the Japanese scientist has shown it is possible to turn back the clock on adult skin cells, by manipulating four genes. This reprogramming technique appears to give them the versatility of embryonic tissue.

These induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells, as Yamanaka calls them, have a critical advantage: they do not have to be harvested from human embryos. His method, said to be simple, should help to address the shortage of donated embryos and eggs that has so limited progress. And as IPS cells could be grown from the skin of patients needing treatment, they would be genetically identical, allowing transplants without fear of rejection. It is not surprising that they have become one of the hottest topics in the field.

The technology has also been seized on by opponents of embryonic stem cell work, particularly by religious groups who regard balls of a few human cells as sacrosanct. They tout Yamanaka's approach as an “ethical alternative” that makes embryo research obsolete. This argument is not only wrong, but it smacks of hypocrisy. For if these critics had had their way and embryonic stem cell research had been banned, there would be no IPS cells for them to champion. As Yamanaka points out, embryonic cells were indispensable to his discovery. It was by studying how their genes are expressed that he established which genes he needed to manipulate in adult tissue. IPS cells might not now require the destruction of embryos, but it is beyond dispute that they are a product of embryonic stem cell research.

For Roman Catholic cheerleaders of IPS cells, additional moral contortions are required. Last month the Vatican updated the Seven Deadly Sins for the 21st century, by adding seven new ones. And the list issued by Bishop Gianfranco Girotti, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, included “allowing genetic manipulations which alter DNA”.

It is hard to think of a definition of this new mortal sin that would not encompass the creation of IPS cells, which are by their very nature genetically manipulated. Yamanaka has made a tremendous scientific advance, which has great medical potential. But his technique is not the answer to Catholic prayers.

That's right, this wonderful discovery that you almost shut down because of your childish boycotting is testament to the wisdom of reason, not religion. And your moronic exaltations are too late, as you've already gone and condemned them with your vague umbrella terms and presumptuous idiocy. So, enjoy your hypocrisy, assholes. I'd better not see you requesting science to save your ass with this technology!

Source: Not an answer to Catholic prayers | Mark Henderson - Times Online

Disclaimer: I'm not addressing this to individual Catholics, but to the Catholic church itself. This twist on their disgusting piety greatly amuses me.