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below are the past two weeks' Digest issues with my articles...

TIU Bioethics Lecture Series Sheds Light on Stem Cell Research

Cloning and stem cell research are on-going controversial and intimidating issues for a lot of people, causing many to become weary and turned-off. But local disinterest and confusion were discarded Thursday evening as Trinity International University (TIU) Professor of Bioethics John Kilner, Ph.D., told the truth about bioethics to an audience of fifty at the Kenneth Kantzer auditorium.

Stem cells are primal cells that have the ability to renew themselves, divide and grow into a range of desired tissues, such as nerves and muscles. These new tissues are used to replace damaged ones, ultimately improving quality of life for everyone.

Kilner’s listeners left with a firm grasp on the difference between the two basic forms of stem cells: adult (obtained without harming human life) and embryonic (obtained by destroying human embryos), and the ethical issues that ensue. But what they didn’t know is that they would leave with an awareness about the lack of scientific researchers who engage in truthful communication.

“Why do we so often try to mislead people, to gain some sort of benefit,” said Kilner, “when it so often backfires in our face?” His concern is that truthful communication; what one says and what one understands, has been replaced by Utilitarianism communication; deception used to advance scientific research that harms the vulnerable.

Potential beneficiaries; those who are ill or injured, subjects of research; human embryos, and sources of materials; those who donate eggs or somatic cells are being exploited through this deception. The corruption can be traced among scientific circles engaged in embryonic stem cell research.

In February 2004, South Korea cloning researcher Hwang Woo-suk claimed a breakthrough: successfully cloning human embryos. In November 2005 an investigation found that the eggs were purchased and the research was fabricated.

In August 2006, Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) removed a single cell from an embryo without harming it, claiming that “early embryos can yield stem cells… and survive.” There was just one problem: all the embryos used in the experiment were destroyed. In a total of ten experiments, ACT implied that sixteen cells were removed from sixteen embryos, and 2 stem cell lines were created as a result. A research investigation found that the 2 stem cell lines were actually a result of 91 cells that were harvested from the 16 embryos, causing their inevitable deaths.

“History is littered with misguided attempts to relieve suffering by cutting ethical corners,” said Kilner. Putting an end to suffering can also be achieved through adult stem cell research, but promoters of embryonic stem cell research often disregard ethical routes based on the popular assumption that an embryonic stem cell can grow into any cell. Misleading language is used to smokescreen the fact that producing the desired cells from embryos “requires cloning human beings and then destroying them. Cloning and killing are too high an ethical price to pay.”

Stem cell debates are not about science versus religion, but an entire mindset; biological versus philosophical, according to Kilner. “Is an embryo a ‘being’ or just ‘some cells’? An adult could be called ‘some cells’,” he said, but scientists wouldn’t be killing adults to advance their research-- or would they?

Have you heard of the Tuskegee syphilis study? In 1933, 399 African-American men in Alabama diagnosed with syphilis were untreated and exploited in order for scientists to conduct research on the phases of the disease. It was not uncovered until 1972 that 28 men had died of syphilis, 100 others were dead due to syphilis related complications, at least 40 wives had been infected and 19 children had contracted the disease at birth. None of the patients were told that they were being used as lab rats.

Because of studies like Tuskegee, the National Research Act law was passed to protect human subjects from being reduced to guinea pigs. But why doesn’t this law protect human embryos? Because the human status of an embryo is still up for debate. To eliminate the ethical dilemma, some scientific authorities redefined an embryo as not human up to 2 weeks after conception, and some up to 8 weeks.

Kilner recognizes these redefinitions as “fancy word plays” that cause a “pressing need for truthful communication” and a call for citizens to “avoid sweeping dismissals” about the effectiveness of adult stem cells.

The National Institutes of Health account for 14 stem cell studies that report adult stem cell “plasticity”: a wide range of potential for growing and dividing into desired cells. Also, several science journals recognize adult stem cells as pleuripotent. Northwestern University ran a headline in 2006 reading, “Adult stem cells show wider potential than previously thought.” University of Pennsylvania followed with, “Elasticity of tissue environment plays role in determining stem cell growth” and University of California, Berkeley added, “Stretched' stem cells have potential to be transformed into blood vessel cells.”

The Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics “Do No Harm” website, maintained at TIU’s Center for Bioethics, keeps score of stem cell research treatments for diseases: Adult Stem Cells; 72 (including 26 cancers), Embryonic; 0.

“There is another safe way to develop the same cures,” said Kilner, who was referring to recent developments in amniotic-fluid stem cells found in the placenta. Adult stem cells are not the only ethical means for advancing research.

This year a study has been published that implies that amniotic-fluid stem cells are “readily available, perhaps ethically trouble-free and possibly as powerful and flexible in function as their embryonic counterparts” reported Newsweek. Let’s just hope it is truthful communication.

“Telling the Truth in Bioethics: Stem Cell Research, Cloning, and Beyond” by Kilner was only the first bioethics seminar of a series of three held by TIU. The presentations, free and open to the public, are held at 7:00 p.m. in the Kantzer Auditorium. Future seminars are scheduled for Februrary 22 with Lawndale Christian Health Center CEO Arthur Jones and March 15 with Wheaton College Philosophy Professor of Faith and Learning Dr. E. David Cook.

Trinity’s Own Wed on Campus

Trinity Hall Residence Director Anne Kooi and Trinity International University (TIU) Director of Networking and Telecommunications Kelvin Tohme were married in the Arnold T. Olson Chapel center Saturday afternoon.

The two met while Tohme was giving an Information Technology (IT) presentation last year to the Trinity Residence Directors and Assistants about using GroupWise and accessing the TIU network. Kooi stayed afterward to ask questions, but friends say that she confessed it was for a little more than just getting information about the technology.

Tohme and Kooi quickly recognized long-distance running as one of their common interests and both participated in the Chicago Marathon in Fall 2006. Tohme popped the question last summer at the romantic Castle Coch near Cardiff, Wales, and slipped an engagement ring on Kooi’s finger after she excitingly proclaimed “yes!”

“These rings are more than some wedding bling” said Rev. Steve Argue after the couple repeated their vows. The informal style of Reverend Argue’s message and his long shaggy hair added flair to the traditional, yet contemporary, ceremony in which only one cell phone sounded.

The guests were escorted to their seats and the wedding party was accompanied to the stage with hymns performed by a solo instrumental pianist. The Bride began the small stretch to her Groom, lined by family, friends, students and faculty, while bridesmaid and TIU’s Johnson Residence Hall Director Heather Harms sang “Praise to the Lord.”

The service continued with a congregational reading of Psalm 100, Lamentations 3:22-26 and Isaiah 25, and another solo by Harms. She sang “Jesus What a Beautiful Name”, a song she would sing to roommate Kooi when in need of a little encouragement. Friend of the Groom and TIU’s IT Director of PC Support and Instructional Technology Chris Miller also read scripture from Romans 12:1-3 and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School student Matt Tebbe lead the couple in worship with the guitar and vocals.

When not fixed on each other’s eyes, Kooi and Tohme faced the audience during most of the service, smiling warmly and showing appreciation for all of the love and encouragement that was present in the room. The anticipation and excitement in the chapel could not be denied, and it was intensified by Kooi’s glowing smile and Tohme’s raised eye-brows.

“Thanks for being H-O-T hot!” said Tohme to his bride as they exchanged personal comments before they recited their vows. Laughter sprang immediately from the crowd; half in surprise and half in confusion. “I don’t know why they’re laughing,” continued Tohme coolly, “because you’re honest, open, and transparent.” Kooi responded with a curtsey and reciprocated with an insightful story about the worship song “Blessed be the Name of the Lord” and its recent impact on her life.

Row by row, the couple greeted and dismissed the guests to the Lew Center, which was transformed into a reception hall with its light fixtures, white table cloths and centerpieces of long-stemmed red roses. The bathrooms were stocked with dinner mints and the lofted balconies were adorned with lights and an overflow of guests, all who enjoyed dinner from On The Border Mexican cuisine served by Sedexho caterers.

Dancing continued well after finished dinner plates were removed from the tables and Groomsman and TIU Athletic Director Patrick Gilliam gave “a five-point sermon” for his best man speech. While the wedding party kidnapped Kooi, Tohme was forced to slow-dance by himself in order to bring her back to the dance floor. Tohme also serenaded his new bride with a Steven Curtis Chapman solo.

After hours of celebration, the newlyweds performed their grand exit and Tohme surprised his wife Sunday morning with a one week honeymoon in Costa Rica.