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Garrett Daun

Garrett Daun started writing professionally in 1993. Daun has extensive training in meditation, rock climbing, yoga, martial arts, exercise and massage therapy. His work has appeared in "The Squealor," the "Earth First! Journal" and on numerous websites. Daun earned a Bachelor of Arts in religious studies and creative writing from the University of Oregon. He is a yoga and Radical Undoing trainer.

On March 9, 2009, the Bush Administration policy restricting federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research was overturned by Barack Obama in the name of easing human suffering. Stem cell research using induced pluripotent stems cells cloned from cells obtained from adult skin and donated embryonic stem cells continues to gain funding and attention from major researchers and funding foundations around the world. Stem cells have the ability to become tissue cells in various different organs of the body. Under certain conditions, stem cells can be induced to repair and replace damaged cells and tissues in various diseases and injuries.

Embryonic stem cells were first isolated in mice by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and the University of Cambridge in 1981. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin and Johns Hopkins University isolated human stem cells from donated embryos 17 years later in 1998. In early 2001, President Bush put a hold on federal funding of all stem cell research. By the middle of 2001, federal funding was restricted to stem cells cloned from existing lines. Bush vetoed bills that would have expanded federal stem cell research funding in 2006 and 2007. Near the end of 2007, scientists at Kyoto University in Japan and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, published studies demonstrating a method of obtaining stem cells from adult skin.

A majority of funding for stem cell research comes from federal and state organizations like the National Institutes of Health and nonprofits including the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. Many state governments have taken responsibility for funding stem cell research at state universities, institutions and businesses. A California ballot measure supported by Governor Schwartzenegger provides $300 million per year for 10 years for stem cell research and experimentation and Connecticut provides $10 million worth of annual funds toward stem cell research for curing disease. In 2004, New Jersey became the first state to support stem cell research by giving $9.5 million toward the development of the Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey. Maryland, Missouri and Iowa are among the states who pioneered stem cell research funding programs in the early to mid 2000s.

Hans Keirstead, Ph. D. is one of the world's leading stem cell researchers who conducts animal and human stem cell research in an attempt to reverse the effects of spinal cord injury and paralysis. Raymond D. Lund at the University of Utah and Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology in Massachusetts developed a repeatable method of inducing embryonic stem cells to become retinal pigment epithelium cells for treatment of macular degeneration and similar eyesight impairing diseases. A team of researchers at the Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Stem Cell Institute discovered that the process of creating induced pluripotent stem cells has the side effect of restoring and improving the health of the cells.

Proposed and experimental stem cell treatments include reversal of aging, spinal cord injury damage and brain damage. Research is underway to develop cell-based treatments for heart disease, diabetes, lung ailments, skin disorders, bone marrow deficiencies, blood disease, nervous system disorders, and organ repair and restoration. Most research involves exploration of treatments in animal models, although as of June 2010, Hans Keirstead of UC Irvine is conducting small scale human trials of a treatment method for recent spinal cord injury patients and has future plans for testing treatments for spinal cord injuries sustained years earlier.

While Hans Keirstead and other leading stem cell researchers warn that stem cell-based cures for paralysis and brain injuries might still be decades away, the potential for such cures is becoming increasingly anticipated by researchers and patients alike. Human stem cells have the potential to rejuvenate cells of every organ and tissue in the body if scientists can create the proper conditions for their use, which could supplant the need for organ transplants. Stem cells are increasingly used to test new medications for safety and effectiveness. The most far-reaching stem cell hope is the possibility of reversing aging to attain something close to cellular immortality.

The World Health Organization reports that 12.2 percent of the worlds people die from respiratory and lung diseases. Many more are partially...

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