Letter: Adult stem cell research working

Tuesday, June 21, 2005 | 9:17 a.m.

I am a cancer survivor and it's due to adult stem cell research. I received an adult stem cell transplant from "myself to myself."

Adult and blood cord stem cells are less prone to immune rejection and are plentiful in bone marrow, umbilical cord blood, skin, brain, bone, nasal and body fat. Four million umbilical cords are discarded a year in this country that could be used to harvest stem cells.

Adult stem cells have been used to successfully treat humans with lupus, muscular sclerosis, Wegener's Granulomatosis, scleroderma, Crohn's disease, Parkinson's disease, cancer, leukemia, sickle cell anemia and other life-threatening conditions. They have also been used in treating eye, ear, heart, brain and bone problems.

Embryonic cells, however, pose unreported problems, such as immune system rejection and tumor growth such as teratomas, and carry viruses from the original sperm and ovum. There are no successes with embryonic.

Embryonic stem cell research depends on human cloning and is teamed with money-making for the bio-tech industry. There is a tremendous amount of money to be made by selling embryonic stem cell lines and patenting human products. For every dollar given to cloning and embryonic stem cell research, multiple dollars are taken away from successful adult stem cell and blood cord research.

CAROL FRANZ