Vito wrote:
... There currently is no "approved" cure for
diabetes so millions of people throughout the world each spend $100s per
month to stay alive.

There is no cure for diabetes, period. It isn't a matter of "approval."

... OTOH scientists can take a few of your cells, strip
out your DNA and inject it into, say, a frog egg stripped of its frog DNA,
and that cloned egg will divide into YOUR stem cells. That's a fact
(Remember Dolly the sheep?). Now if my stem cells were injected into my
pancreas they would say "Gee, we must be Vito's pancreas cells!" and begin
making insulin - and my diabetes would be cured.

Well, if it's that simple, why don't you do it yourself?

... So why isn't that
happening? Because additional research is needed to get the proceedure
approved and who is going to pay for that?

Actually, it is happening. But very little of it is happening in the
U.S. The type of "cure" you envision may be possible in ten years, or it
may never be possible... the research may lead to something else.

Meanwhile, approval of implantable blood metering devices and
micro-controlled insulin metering devices is proceding, too.


... Not the drug companies! It'd cost
them $billions!! Maybe that's why Bush won't allow federal funding. Y'see
it takes PATIENT DNA to do the research and Bush only allows a dozen or so
"established strains" to be used. Or maybe it's because the good folks who
eat their god every sunday also think that every lump of stem cells is a
baby.

You may be blaming the wrong folks. It turns out that George Bush Jr.
ain't "church people" after all.

In any event, you're crying for the moon and getting mad at Daddy for
not fetching it for you. How much have you donated to the American
Diabetes Society this year? Last year? How much translational research
have you funded?

You're angry at the docs & drug companies for making a profit, and
insisting that they cure you for free. That doesn't make much sense.

DSK