In December 2013, the Charlotte Lozier Institute released figures that found that the bulk of stem cell funding grants in California and Maryland are moving toward “ethical” research that doesn’t use human embryos.

In 2007, the Maryland Stem Cell Research Commission funded eleven projects that used human embryos and four that used adult stem cells.  In 2013, the Maryland commission funded only one embryonic stem cell project and twenty eight non-embryonic projects.

“Maryland’s grants can be seen as “an important bellwether” for the research choices, as the State is home to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, a leading site for stem cell research, Mr. Tarne, author for papers for Charlotte Lozier Institute said.

The two states’ growing preferences for “ethical” stem cell projects reflect the scientific community’s belief that “the best hope for rapid medical advances lies with morally unproblematic alternatives,” said Chuck Donovan, President of the Charlotte Lozier Institute, which is the research arm of the Susan B. Anthony List.

“It’s a matter of starting to recognize that where all the ‘return’ is – especially if we’re talking about helping a patient — is in adult stem cells,” said David Prentice, Senior Fellow for Life Sciences at the Family Research Council and a member of the advisory board for the Kansas Adult Stem Cell Research Center.

“It validates what we have been saying for years, which is ‘the ethical is the successful’ and that’s where we should put all our resources,” said Mr. Prentice.

“This is the beginning,” said Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback on Nov. 23, 2013, when the Midwest Stem Cell Therapy Center held its inaugural conference.

“We are catching it right as the field is really starting to burgeon,” he said, according to the Kansas Health Institute News Service.  The Center (approved in April 2013) is “a visionary move” to “support science that can actually lead to a lot of new therapies and potentially change the face of medicine,” said Dr. Buddhadeb Dawn, Director of the center, which is housed at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City.

“Excluding embryonic stem cell research is not an impediment,” Dr. Dawn said. “Adult stem cells are the ones that have been shown to be effective for patient treatment,” he said.

Separately, the National Institutes of Health remains a major player in all kinds of stem cell research: In fiscal 2012, it issued $146.5 million for embryonic stem cell research and $504 million for non-embryonic projects; both were record-breaking amounts for the agency.

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Source:   www.washingtontimes.com