http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6171083.stm Healthy new-born babies may have been killed in Ukraine to feed a flourishing international trade in stem cells, evidence obtained by the BBC suggests. Disturbing video footage of post-mortem examinations on dismembered tiny bodies raises serious questions about what happened to them. Ukraine has become the self-styled stem cell capital of the world. There is a trade in stem cells from aborted foetuses, amid unproven claims they can help fight many diseases. But now there are claims that stem cells are also being harvested from live babies. Wall of silence The BBC has spoken to mothers from the city of Kharkiv who say they gave birth to healthy babies, only to have them taken by maternity staff. In 2003 the authorities agreed to exhume around 30 bodies of foetuses and full-term babies from a cemetery used by maternity hospital number six. One campaigner was allowed into the autopsy to gather video evidence. She has given that footage to the BBC and Council of Europe. In its report, the Council describes a general culture of trafficking of children snatched at birth, and a wall of silence from hospital staff upwards over their fate. The pictures show organs, including brains, have been stripped - and some bodies dismembered. A senior British forensic pathologist says he is very concerned to see bodies in pieces - as that is not standard post-mortem practice. It could possibly be a result of harvesting stem cells from bone marrow. Hospital number six denies the allegations.
so should we start selling stem cells at Randall's? i have no idea what restrictions there are on stem cell research in the Ukraine. this article says they're the world capital of stem cell research. but this is beyond disgusting.
It'd certainly make my day easier. The reason there'd be an 'international market' for stem cells is because there are countries that underfund/block research, place restrictions on the types of stem cells that can be used and how they can be acquired, and so on. I'd imagine many of the cells make their way here. It's disgusting, but the market is being created by greed and 'morality'. Take away the bans/restrictions that hobble research, and the market disappears.
I actually saw another story online that would make me think many of these are for quack medical procedures involving injections of stem cells into 'troublesome' body parts, like the abdomin for age related fat, etc. Apparetly these types of procedures are done in Russia and many places in Latin America. I think this is what the story may be hinting at with this line: [rquoter] There is a trade in stem cells from aborted foetuses, amid unproven claims they can help fight many diseases. [/rquoter] In any case I don't think that you will find anybody who will argue that this is anything but a criminal practice. But I also hope that this specific evidence leads you to believe that stem-cell research should be outlawed. If you believe that for other ethical reasons, I can understand. But we don't outlaw, for instance, body part transplants even though a 'transplant gang' ran off and illegally sold Alastair Cook's bones. Rather we concern ourselves with stopping people who operate illegally and unethically. I apologize for feeling the need to even bring it up. I don't think that that was your intent here but based on experience from past discussions as a reaction my first thought on similar topics it to worry about ulterior motives. By the same token, I don't think these were particularly destined for the USA and stem cell research is legal in Europe, so I think that it is a big stretch to blame the acts of these criminals on any sort of American policy decision.
This is absolutely disgusting. Why do the Eastern European countries have such distorted views of human life? See the human trafficking, the harvesting of fetuses, and the proliferation of child p*rnography.
Drugs Organs Prostitution Is it your beleif that FREE MARKET is the answer to all our ills? You beleive in NO REGULATION? Rocket River
All the more reason for federally funded embryonic stem cell research. I've stated this case here before and I'll say it again. First, Stem cell research is inevitable. The only question is how scientists and researchers participate in this type of research. Second, history dictates that Federal funding of research leads the rest of the world. Top scientists have historically moved towards federal grants because they are the largest in the world and the most prestigious. The name recognition generated by the National Institutes of Health supersedes anything else in the world. We are facing an acute brain drain of top scientists because of a lack of effective infrastructure for embryonic stem cell research in this country. Funding only exists through ad hoc private grants that are unreliable because they could dry up at any moment and don't carry the guaranteed support of government funding. Third, federal funding of research comes with ethics. Before Bush banned funding (except for limited lines that were proven to be tainted with mouse cells, thus totally useless), the NIH under the Clinton administration had set up an model ethical protocol to function as a criterion for the use of federal funds. (restrincting where the stem cells were obtained, how they could be used, how many could be used, etc..) Thus not only would be attracting top scientists back to the US, but we would be forcing them to follow a stricter ethical protocol. Fourth, this creates a race to the top. Private grants would be forced to conform with federal guidelines because most scientists take a mix of private and federal funding. Also, in order to keep up with top scientists, other countries would be forced to do the same. Most scientists are generally fairly ethical, the problem of unethical activity comes from the clinics and research organizations that acquire said embryonic stem cells. By forcing the scientists to conform to a scientific and ethical norm, these institutions would be forced to piggyback as well. Finally, the US is a historical leader in research. Major research on everything from cancer to heart disease starts and ends in the US. Denying federal funding for such research and creating a climate of confusion and distrust for a type of treatment that could revolutionize medicine has been criminal. By rejecting federal funding, we have unintentionally encouraged this type of nonsense outside of our borders and even here in the US where scientists get private funding with looser protocols than the one established by the Clinton administration years ago.
With federal funding, there would be more available lines for research. Most or all of the embryos that have been used in domestic research came from consenting couples who would have discarded them after their IVF treatments. However, I doubt this would stop the murder of these Ukranian babies. It seems like additional suffering to an already doomed existence.
No, not at all. I believe everything listed should be regulated, but that the regulation should be based upon rational considerations and, in the case of stem cell research, scientific necessities instead of religious/moral ideals. I think there's no such thing as 'The Free Market'. The regulations (as they exist now) just make the market go further underground. Though I'm sure the situation Ottomaton pointed out has just as much bearing on the existence of a black market for stem cells.
maybe i'm missing something here. stem cell research is totally legal in the Ukraine and throughout most of europe, as i understand it. i do not see how US policy decisions affected this in any way.
I'm saying that the places where it's heavily regulated are the places that would have a market for stem cells acquired through illegal means. I don't just mean the U.S. - I'm including other countries that have banned or hobbled research. But, as Ottomaton pointed out, it may have more to do with illegal uses of stem cells, even in countries where it's not illegal to research them.
yes..i understand that's what you're saying. but this is the ukraine. and it is NOT illegal to conduct stem cell research there. there is no banned or hobbled research there, as i understand it. nevertheless...this crap is going on. so i guess i'm really not sure how what you're saying applies to this situation.
Okay, I'll try and clarify my point of view. The Ukraine does not have restrictions, but other countries do, and Ukrainians can make money by selling stem cell harvests to the countries that do have restrictions (or for clinics that use stem cells in illegal/ethically dubious ways). So, to make more money, they need more stem cells. So they kill babies to get stem cells to get more money. I'm willing to bet that, within the Ukraine, there is very little actual research going on.
It isn't just Eastern Europe that has radically different opinions of human life than we do. Some places in Asia, Africa and the Middle East/I.S.C. have "values" about things that would make your hair permanently stand on your head. Tell you what: If you ever get the chance to travel and spend time even in other countries that seem similar to America, it may surprise you how different they are.
Yes, I read elsewhere that the stem cells you would get from a newborn are the same as adult stem cells. Only embryos provide the stem cells that are really wanted for research.
You name it, the East Euros/Russians will create a 'black market' for it. BTW, did anyone see that movie "Tauristas"?
If there is money in it, there is a market in it. Ethics take a distant second. It's how I feel about abortion clinics. Debate the ethics -- high road, low road, what ifs -- all you want, but in the end, it comes down to money. The clinics make tons of money...and dead fetuses don't talk back. Stem cell research will make medical advances possible. That's the noble side. That it is done on the precious life of innocents is the shameful side. But...follow the money and you will see who wins -- cash or children.
