August 23, 2014

Ice ALS! Give Ethically!

By now you have probably heard of the Ice Bucket Challenge. Click here for a snapshot of where it all began! The "challenged" are supposed to be the recipient of a bucket of iced water, or donate to ALS research. Most do both, forwarding their challenge onto others via social media and video. To date this successful effort has raised $42 million dollars in donations for research. How the money is used is what troubles me.

ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, a.k.a. "Lou Gehrig's Disease") is a fatal, neurological disease. As the nerves die, muscles weaken and atrophy, including the muscles for breathing; most ALS victims die of respiratory failure. So, raising awareness about ALS research is a positive thing. But whether you take the challenge or just donate, I want you to know where your donation will go. The primary beneficiary has been the ALS Association (ALSA) who has admitted that it gives money to embryonic stem cell research and will continue to do so.

As Rebecca Taylor has pointed out, ALSA has also given money to NEALS, an affiliate which has numerous trials all using stem cells from the spinal cord of an aborted fetus. That trial is being run by the University of Michigan and Emory University, and sponsored by a company called Neuralstem which exclusively uses aborted fetus cells for research. Project ALS, another charity for ALS research, also funds embryonic stem cell research.

The ethical problem with using embryonic stem cells is that they are obtained by the destruction of human embryos. An embryo is fully human. To take a human life in order to possibly save other lives is something I cannot morally support.

So, I am encouraging you to consider ethical alternatives for your donations!

Here are some organizations that use only adult stem cells for their critical research -forgoing the ethically challenged embryonic stem cells in their research and clinical trials as well as links to the donation page for each organization:

• The Steve Gleason Foundation. "Donate Now"
• The John Paul II Medical Research Institute. "Donate Now"
• The Adult Stem Cell Technology Center, LLC. "Donate Now" by contacting the director.

As one who was formerly diagnosed with Guillain–Barré Syndrome (GBS), which mimics ALS and Muscular Dystrophy, but is treatable in 80 percent of cases if caught early, I have great respect for researchers, medical professionals and the unfortunate souls affected by these dreaded neurological disease's. But as a child of God, I will only donate resources towards ethical adult stem cell research!

My donation is ON - the ethical way!