Scientists Question Embryonic Stem Cell Claims 
Recent claims by Advanced Cell Technologies Inc. of Alameda, California that its scientists had found a way to produce embryonic stem cell lines without harming human embryos was given front page coverage in newspapers across the country. But, after the dust settled, scientists outside the company have begun to question the authenticity of the claims, casting doubt on the methods employed in the experiment.

In the first place, 16 embryos were used in the experiment and they all died, according to a story by David P. Hamilton and Antonio Regalado in the September 5th edition of the Wall Street Journal. Advanced Cell’s research was published in the journal Nature, and media outlets throughout the world reported that the company’s scientists had derived new stem cell lines in an embryo-safe way. Nature itself erroneously hyped the report with an embargoed press release inaccurately describing the researchers as using single cells extracted from embryos that remained intact. The publication issued subsequent press releases correcting the first, reports the Journal.

Barry Behr, a Stanford University embryologist and director of the university’s IVF laboratories who was quoted in the story said, “One of the flaws in this paper is that it draws conclusions that they don’t really have the data to prove.” “The sort of leaps of faith here are a little too big to leap.”

October 1 is Life Chain Sunday! 
Sunday, October 1 is Respect Life Sunday and National Life Chain Day! It is on this day that millions of people will set aside an hour to quietly line the streets and avenues of America, taking a public stand against the evil of abortion and for the many millions of lives lost in this tragic American holocaust. Please join with your fellow pro-lifers by standing up for the babies who are denied their right to life.

National Life Chain guidelines call for a simple, prayerful and peaceful witness of pro-life Americans, praying for our nation and for an end to abortion, without fundraising or promotion of political candidates. It serves as a visual statement of solidarity by the Christian community that abortion kills innocent children and that the Church supports the sanctity of life from the moment of fertilization to the end of one’s natural life.

To find out how to participate in Life Chain in your area, go to: http://www.lifechain.net.

Reminders from Colorado Right to Life – Did you know that . . . 

• an average of over 4,200 American babies are killed every day through abortion?

• more than 1,400,000 babies die every year in the U.S. because of abortion?

• more black babies are aborted than are born in the United States?

• more than 50,000,000 Americans have been killed through abortion since 1973?