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Stem cell claim stuns Oprah
Last week, Dr. Mehmet Oz stopped by the Oprah Winfrey Show to talk with Winfrey and special guest Michael J. Fox, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, about stem cell research that may soon lead to cures for diseases like the one afflicting Fox.
At one point during the segment, Oz seemed to stun both Winfrey and Fox by asserting that ”the stem cell debate is dead.” Since embryonic stem cells are hard to control and can even lead to cancer, Oz said adult stem cells hold the most promise. Further, Oz said he believes researchers are within 10 years of making major breakthroughs using adult stem cells.
You can check out the whole segment here, or catch the abbreviated analysis below:
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back to top29 Comments to “Stem cell claim stuns Oprah”
It won’t matter. It was always a political, not a medical debate.
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It’s too bad that the research was actually put back by all this political infighting. Obama should have done the right thing to begin with on this one, but I suspect this is not high on his priority list with everything else that’s going on. He’s going to continue to rely on his own experts.
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Why are they all wearing purple goloves?
If Dr. Oz is right, that’s really exciting news. It would be great to resolve this debate with dramatic proof of the value of non-embryonic stem cells and genuine help for the suffering.
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Yes, and those experts would not appear to be medical experts either.
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gloves, not “goloves” … maybe adult stem cells could fix whatever it is that makes me a bad typist.
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They wear the purple gloves because they are touching organs from people, i.e., brain, liver. Those gloves go on and off more easily than the latex gloves.
(Steve, don’t leave yourself so wide open.)
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Ah ok. I didn’t realize that was a real brain he had in his hand, I thought it was a replica.
Now that I know … ewwww.
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Sigh…
It would be nice if all the talking heads in the media would finally stop giving breathless soundbites that support their own position – and actually do some real investigation and reporting!
Then mainstream airheads wouldn’t be “stunned”.
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No, Steve, Dr. Oz and his friend Dr. Roizen use the real things! Have you never seen that program “YOU” on PBS where they have a dessicated body cut open? I admit I like to watch Dr. Oz. I always learn something, but when he brought in the omentum (one’s fat over one’s gut), it gave me the ewww feeling, too, not to mention a small amount of guilt.
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I admire Dr Oz for being willing to debunk a long-cherished myth. Michael J. Fox and even erstwhile proLifer Nancy Reagan were leading the parade as cheerleaders for “harvesting” embryonic stem cells.
Ironic too that something viewed as a life-extender/disease “curer” could actually cause cancer.
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And let’s give GWB a round of applause for making the moral argument and sticking by his guns and not allowing the embryonic stem cell research to be funded, which would have been a waste of money as well as immoral. Can’t say the same thing about Obama.
I wonder how Fox really feels about wasting time lobbying for that when he could have lobbied for more money for adult stem cells and the IPS (?) research. He was willing to sacrifice others to save himself and did himself more harm.
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It’s encouraging to hear Dr. Oz say what the science has shown. Now if only the politicians will listen. It’d be a shame to waste million of dollars of funding and so much time pursuing embryonic stem cell research when the best hope lies elsewhere.
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NJLawyer: I have one of their books (You: An Owner’s Manual) but I have not seen the show. I might give it a look.
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What? Oprah and Michael Fox stunned by common sense truth? Shocking, I say, shocking!
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But Dr. Oz never utters the words, “adult stem cell,” which has been the pro-life argument all along–that the adult stem cell research was promising.
Still playing games.
I’m glad Michael J. Fox appeared and allowed the world to see the effects of his Parkinson’s Disease. That took courage and was important.
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Actually, I’m not sure the word “stuns” in the headline is justified. Neither Oprah nor the anti-Elvis seemed stunned. The use of that word seems to suggest the writer is sure they must have been because, you know, they’re liberals. But the video doesn’t back it up.
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I get the feeling that some of these pro-embryonic stem cell scientist are more interested in just seeing what will happen than they are in actually curing a disease.
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I saw Micheal Fox on Jon Stewart last night. I admire his tenacity in fighting for research. And given the absolutely degrading treatment he received at the hands of Rush Limbaugh, I’m doubly proud of him.
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Facts of any kind never ever get in way of the left’s insatiable appetite to kill human embryos if all kinds.
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Oz seemed to stun both Winfrey and Fox
While any home-school first grader can recite the advantages of adult stem cells.
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“And given the absolutely degrading treatment he received at the hands of Rush Limbaugh”
Michael J. Fox admitted to deliberately forgoing his usual medication prior to testifying before Congress so that his symptoms would be more pronounced and elicit more sympathy. Rush Limbaugh mentioned Michael J. Fox’s ruse when Fox later appeared in commercials that duplicitously elided the difference between adult and embryonic stem cells and misstated Bush’s position on federal funding as a prohibition on research.
I suppose some would say that holding someone with a debilitating disease to a standard of honesty is “absolutely degrading treatment”, while patronizing someone with such a disease (how dare anyone question the brave disabled person)is not.
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Michelle is right. I’m not an expert, but these are not the same adult stem cells that ESC research opponents have been talking about for so long. Adult stem cells are multipotent. They have the capacity to become a limited number of tissues. Pluripotent embryonic stem cells can become any tissue. The doctor is talking about “induced pluripotent” cells. This is a third category. These cells are like ESCs in that they are genuinely pluripotent. The huge ethical and medical advantage of induced pluripotent cells is that they are taken from the body of an adult and biochemically tricked into becoming pluripotent. This is all relatively recent science. Induced pluripotence was first discovered/developed about a year ago. From everything I’ve read about it, it should have made the ESC debate moot, but there is still just too much political gain and ignorance to exploit for that to happen.
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I’m the one that made the YouTube video embedded above, and we’re having a pretty intense debate on the issue of stem cell research in the comments section of the video. Come join us!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDFJOzu9SyM
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As long as it’s not embryonic, it’s okay.
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Greetings,
Michael J Fox fans may be interested in seeing the award-winning feature-length documentary, “Boys of Summer” (www.baseballdoc.com) about a father (with Parkinson’s Disease) and his son attempting to road trip 20,000 miles in two months to see a game at each of the 30 Major League Ballparks. A minimum of 50% of the proceeds from the sale of the film will go to the Michael J Fox Foundation.
Thank you,
Robert Cochrane
Director, Writer, Producer “Boys of Summer”
http://www.baseballdoc.com
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As a point of fact, it’s interesting to note that as a part of his much-lauded reversal of Bush’s squelching of federal support for ESC research, our “pro-science” president Obama rescinded Bush’s executive order 13435, which specifically advocated support for HHS/NIH research involving induced pluripotent stem cells?
Gosh. It’s almost as if this guy is more about pleasing an anti-Bushist base than the pursuit of science, kind of at odds with the
integritylie of his “take politics out of science” stance.Report comment to moderator
The Wisdom of Oz
Visualize the surreal image of Oprah Winfrey, Michael J Fox and Dr. Mehmet Oz, wearing purple surgical gloves, sitting on stage around a human brain. Dr. Oz explains the absence of Nigro-Striatal Neurons in the brain of Parkinson’s patients while lifting out partially dissected chunks of brain and placing them into Michael’s shaking hand.
The camera zooms in as Dr. Oz steadies Michael’s hand in his. Dr. Oz weaves an intimidating, steel needle between Michael’s gloved and trembling fingers and illustrates the procedure for injecting stem cells into the brain by plunging it both into and through the quivering cerebellum. Michael’s legs spasm and contort and my stomach clenches empathetically with what I sense is Michael’s extreme discomfort, but is really a symptom of his condition.
And yet, NOTHING could have prepared me for what happened next as Dr. Oz, unbelievably and without prelude or warning, makes the stunning statement:
“I think, Oprah, the stem cell debate is dead.”
“The problem with embryonic stem cells is that embryonic stem cells come from embryos, like all of us are made from embryos, and those cells can become any cell in the body, but it’s very hard to control them and so they can become cancer.”
While astonished by his public announcement, I soon began to wonder: “why did Dr Oz only briefly allude to the potential of iPS cells and the proven benefits of adult stem cell treatments?” And then it became clear.
Dr Oz recognizes that the average person on an American street is led to believe, “a stem cell is an embryo is a stem cell”. Due to years of misleading media saturation, as far most Americans know, there are no other stem cells besides embryonic. Walk down the street and ask someone “what is an adult stem cell…what is an iPS cell”, and your inquiries will surely be met by blank stares.
So in retrospect, what Oz DID do, was truly…amazing.
Shunning the history of the love/hate affair Americans have with Embryonic stem cell research and ignoring the majority of US media over the past 5 years, the decrees of President Obama’s funding policies, the positions of the FDA and AMA and the fruitless decade long public pursuit of embryonic cures undertaken by Michael J Fox (with the benevolent and optimistic spirit of Christopher Reeve hovering over him) and before the bewildered eyes of Michael, Oprah and ~7.2 million viewers, Dr Mehmet Oz nailed the coffin shut on ESC treatments:
“I think, Oprah, the stem cell debate is dead.”
With this one simple statement on national TV, Dr Oz has taken the first step towards educating the American public about the current insurmountable limitations of embryonic stem cells and cracked open the door to the American collective mind-set regarding the potential of iPS cells and the reality that Repair stem cells (RSC) have been treating diseases around the world successfully for a decade. Despite the fact that thousands of American doctors refer to RSC as “snake oil,” more and more American patients are realizing that the US medical system is faltering, dated and just not working while the greatest medicine the world has ever seen is available just beyond the borders of their own country.
The seeds planted by Dr Oz will take a long time to find purchase in the collective American mind-set. There is too much embryonic momentum, media and drama, and America loves drama. Embryonic stem cells will not go away and like Romeo and Juliet, this love/hate affair may have to run its course for most, despite Dr Oz stealing the “distilled liquor” and Romeo’s poison and dagger in an attempt to avoid all of the deaths at the end of this play.
To read more about this grim fairy tale: http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/03/30/a-grim-fairy-tale-americas-doomed-love-affair-with-embryonic-stem-cell-research-intro-the-romance-is-an-illusion/
One step at a time we will climb this mountain and slowly open American eyes to improve their knowledge of treatment options so all can intelligently exercise the freedom of choice in their individual medical care. One inch at a time, Oz wisely created a pathway to an amazing new world of available medical treatments for what were previously believed to be incurable diseases and are in fact treating patients successfully around the world.
Dr Oz took this first step and it was a HUGE first step!
So from where I am sitting, I would like to express my heartfelt and sincerest appreciation for Dr Oz’s bravery, statements and actions. Thank you, Dr. Oz and thank you Oprah; for allowing this sage doctor the forum to break the walls restricting millions of Americans from the knowledge of the medical treatment options they so unquestionably deserve.
To see the original video:
http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/03/31/oprah-michael-j-fox-dr-mehmet-oz-the-stem-cell-debate-is-over/
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Here is the actual transcript based on my ears and fingers and a lot of patient rewinding:
“I think, Oprah, the stem cell debate is dead.”
“The problem with embryonic stem cells is that embryonic stem cells come from embryos, like all of us are made from embryos, and those cells can become any cell in the body, but it’s very hard to control them and so they can become cancer.”
“I can take a little bit of your skin, take those cells, get them to go back in time so they are like they were when you were first made, and then they will start to make that dopamine & I think those cells, because they won’t be as prone to cancer & because they’re your genes will be the ones that are ultimately used to cure Parkinsons.”
“I think we are single digit years away from making a big impact in the lives of Parkinson’s disease but also diabetics, heart disease, people who have had a lot of problems.”
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Rostin,
A minor correction and expansion if I may. iPS cells were discovered in mice in 2006 and humans in 2007. Not one year ago as stated. Here are 3 articles about iPS cells if anyone is interested.
http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/?s=ipsc+2006
Bear in mind that the more educated pro embryonic people will tell you that iPS cells ALSO do carry SOME risk of tumor formation…but as of March 27, 2009, this is no longer the case due to Dr Thomson’s recent discovery (the father of embryonics who has given up embryonic research because of it’s limitations to become one of the world’s most brilliant iPS scientist). He was able to turn skin cells…foreskin cells to be specific, into plutipotent (iPS)cells with no viruses or tumor potential.
http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/03/27/news-stem-cell-pioneer-thomsons-lab-achieves-fairly-big-milestone/
Btw, whereas iPS have what looks to be a bright future, adult stem cells are still the gold standard for treatment Adult stem cells have treated over 130+ diseases successfully over the past 6 years and they also have a prior history of safe use as bone marrow transplants for Leukemia and a number of other cancers to counter the effects of chemotherapy for ~40 years.
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I have erectile dysfunction. And I am seeking stem cell trreatment for it. Can any of you provide me testimonials of people who have had this done for their erectile dysfunction problem and succeded? My email is: taurusxz@yahoo.com Thank you.
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