Just a heads up, this post does contain some contemplation about collecting menstrual blood without diverting to references of any sort of feminine hygiene product. If that creeps you out, maybe you would be more interested in just reading the original article.
After success in healing injured mice, a team of American and Canadian researchers are hoping to begin human trials to test the affectiveness of stem cells found in menstrual blood. Full story here.
The animal tests sound promising but the article does not explain, for obvious reasons, the mechanics of the experiment: Such as how, or if, menstrual blood stem cells taken from the lining of the uterus are different than fetal stem cells? How did they collect the menstrual fluid? did it have to be kept at a certain temperature?
My brief university science training did not bring me to the point where the answer to my question would be implicit but the after-shock of this being successful in humans could potentially introduce us to a whole new level of problems.
On the surface, the use of menstrual fluid would seem to many to be a rather simple way of collecting stem cells and would, initially, clear the table of any oppositions to stem cell research from those who do not support abortion. Personally, I do not have such qualms but I AM interested in understanding whether the stem cells may have from from particles of the expelled, unfertilized egg or from the menstrual lining. However, for those who do have those qualms, would it just put them over the edge to treating menstruation as anti-life? I admit that is a terribly extreme prediction but would any of us be surprised?
Other questions remain. Does the pill or other forms of chemical birth control or other medications affect the quality/quantity/composition of the stem cells? is there a difference in when one collects the blood? I should admit that I am excited. Due to my habit of getting tattoos, frequently coming down with colds, and moving between countries, I am often ineligible to give blood regularly. However, if a means of donating menstrual blood is discovered, I would be first in line, particularly if it means that I do not have to spend so much on pads, tampons, and cups. I would be up to ensuring that my landfill contribution could be reduced.
The potential ethical issues are somewhat heady, but at this point it is best to leave that until more information is released.
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Yeah, if this were to become commonplace, I could see the weirdos claiming that it encourages teh ladies to menstruate rather than do their duty having babiez. Or that it's disrespectful to the poor, naturally deceased failed zygote or something. It could totally open the door to "menstruation is murder" thinking. I see no limit to how far these schmucks will go.
Ok, this might be a stupid question but I didn't get an answer from the article or my brief search on the subject online:
If they can use human stem-cells to fix the legs of the critters, why can't critter stem-cells be used on humans?
I understood that fetus stem-cells had the best efficacy and highest concentration, but obviously that's a very controversial source (human fetus that is), but other than PETA if we could get them from critters, wouldn't that be the way to go?
Or did I read the article completely wrong? Because it looked like they used stem-cells from a couple of women (not a pronoun I usually associate with female critters) on some mice.