Something about this feels kinda … off-putting. Five professional soccer players in Europe have had stem cells from their newborn babies frozen, for the potential future use in repairing their own bodies.
So, for example, if Joe Cole (and I’m just using him as an example) rips up his ACL in a few years, we crack open the freezer, find the stem cells right behind the Stouffer’s frozen pizza, shoot it into him, and bam, good as new.
I at least hope he saves a bunch of them … I’d hate for the child to one day develop scoliosis, and have to hear daddy tell him, “Oh, no, I’m sorry. We can’t fix your spine. I know, tough break. But this one time, daddy had a really important game against AC Milan. Yeah … I’m sorry. But hey, we got you a brand new walker, little guy. It even has Spiderman stickers on it! Be brave.”
I’m not really sure why this bugs me. I’m all for stem cell research, and funding, and I think it’s an exciting thing, I do. And I think the people who believe that using stem cells is an abomination against God are absolutely fucking crazy. But, I dunno… using them to repair a center-back’s torn MCL, at least at this early point, seems a little crazy.
Maybe I’d just like us to understand this better, and figure out some of the more pressing applications first. For example, let’s wait until we figure out a way to use these things to cure Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s or some other debilitating disease first, before this just becomes a plaything for rich people.
BrotherofOdd Says:
August 28th, 2006 at 1:40 pm
Yes, there are more medically important issues that ACL repair for a professional athlete. However, the expansion potential of stem cells means that there would likely be sufficient numbers to repair the dad’s ACL, grow him a new liver to replace his cirrhotic one, grow him some new neurons once Alzheimer’s sets in, and re-establish the kid’s hematopoietic system if he develops leukemia. It is also possible that the stem cells would be rejected by any recipient other than the donor from which the cells were obtained. Would you feel differently if the kid himself wanted to use the cells to repair his own ACL later in life? Harvesting, isolating, freezing and storing these cells is not cheap so this will likely remain “a plaything for rich people”, whether “plaything” includes medically necessary or medically convenient applications.
VTHokie Says:
August 28th, 2006 at 3:44 pm
to add to Brother Mouzone from above, the stem cells would be a nice potential alternative to some of the weirdo’s who sell “used” ACL’s and other such body parts from compromised sources for big $. And insurance companies and physicians pay for those.
BT Says:
August 28th, 2006 at 11:42 pm
While this sounds creepy, it’s actually far more ethical than the embryonic stem cell research we’ve heard so much about. The stem cells that are frozen here are harvested in a fashion in which no life is harmed.
Indeed, these cells are likely to be more useful than cells from a random embryo. You know how, when getting a blood transfusion or an organ donation, you have to wait for one of your “type?” With a stem cell from a relative, you’ve got at least a 50% chance of being a match. Of course, the best source is from *yourself*, but most of us are too old to get the stem cells from a convenient source (unless your forward-thinking mother happened to save your placenta and umbilical cord, in which case … ewwww)