Some scientists think that the reason cancer recurs is because we haven't gotten to the root of the disease. What they mean by the root is -- the cancer stem cells.

Stem cells can reproduce and make exact copies of themselves and can live longer than ordinary cells. Embryonic stem cells can have the potential to become many different types of cells, whereas adult stem cells are generally limited to becoming into the cell types of a specific organ.

The researchers gave the analogy of a dandelion that is growing in your backyard. You can cut the weed but if you don't kill the root the dandelion will grow back. It seems that our treatments today for cancer can kill the ordinary cancer cells but can leave the stem cells behind to grow into new tumors and spread.

So how do we kill the cancer stem cells? Well, they don't know yet. But it is promising research that I look forward to hearing more about in the future.

A chemical found in hard plastics -- such as CD cases, baby bottles, food-storage containers, and even electronics parts -- has been loosely linked to incidences of breast cancer. Popular opinion cautions that if we were not worried about this news yesterday, we should not be worried about it today -- because studies are preliminary and nothing is definitive at this point. But there are definitely two sides to the debate over how harmful these hard plastics may be.

The chemical in question -- a pseudo-estrogen called bisphenol-A (BPA) -- appears to be absorbed by breast tumor cells, according to a new study published in the August 28 issue of Chemistry & Biology. Previous studies have linked small exposures of BPA to prostate abnormalities in mice that suggest a link between the plastic chemical and human prostate cancer. Some studies even theorize that embryonic and fetal exposure might influence mental retardation and birth defects. And because this pseudo-estrogen is a synthetic material that in human cells can trigger estrogenic effects, breast cancer now comes up as a disease that may result from this questionable chemical.

Critics say that average levels of the chemical found in urine is infinitesimally small -- about one part per billion. Some say the results of this research come from in-vitro studies that one expert says can never fully explain human disease. Yet the real crux of the matter, according to another expert, is that we are surrounded by all sorts of chemicals that are pseudo-estrogenic -- not just BPA -- and it's the cumulative effects that we do need to worry about.

George W. Bush declared five years ago that no federal funding would be allocated for embryonic stem cell research. He has not changed his mind -- and two weeks ago vetoed a bill that would allow this research. He says that supporting the bill would be supporting the taking of innocent human life in order to find medical benefits for others. For Bush, it crosses a moral boundary. But most Americans support stem cell research and would like to see the Bush White House loosen its restrictions, says Kathy Hudson, director of the Genetics and Public Policy Center at Johns Hopkins University in Washington. Until this happens, though, scientists and researchers find themselves in an ethically-charged minefield, operating carefully and responsibly and ethically.

Dr. Peter Dirks -- a neurosurgeon specializing in childhood brain cancer at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children who has been making headlines around the world for isolating brain cancer stem cells two years ago -- is one person weighing in on controversial issue of stem cell research. Dirks does not use embryonic stem cells but instead uses cells from tumors removed during brain surgery that would otherwise be discarded. But he says embryonic stem cell research is critical for his success. It's what has led to the findings that exist today -- and it holds the clues for further discovery. It's a delicate matter, though, regardless of the politics surrounding the issue. Before he harvests stem cells from any patient's brain tumor, for example, Dirks asks parents to sign a three and a half-page consent form. And that's just the beginning.

Federally-funded embryonic stem cell research does not yet have its beginning here in the United States. Maybe the tides will change. Maybe we will see progress. Maybe we won't. Only time will tell.

Welcome back from the weekend! Here is a review of what we were talking about during the second week in July in our other health blogs.

From The Cardio Blog:

• Bucindolol: experimental heart failure drug.
• Mammograms can find heart health problems.
• Eggs: bad or not bad for heart health -- which is it?
• The clock of life and time of day determines heart health.
• Extreme obesity raises mortality rate in women.
• Austrailian stem cell research innovates new heart treatment.
• Public physical activity program helps weight loss, lower blood pressure.
• Tuna imported from Latin America has highest mercury level.
• Eating less helps slow aging process.
• Teens helped to learn healthy diet habits with household food rules.
• Volunteer work helps seniors stay active and healthy.
• Working overtime worse for womens health.
• Aging and single living combined linked to higher heart disease risk.
• Tubby kids motivated to exercise by reward of TV time.
• Humidity and high temps linked to rise in summer heart attacks.
• Comedian Red Button dies of vascular disease.
• Migraine aura linked to increased heart attack stroke risk.
  

From The Diabetes Blog:

• Martial arts black belt uses youth group to fight diabetes.
• FDA approves GlaxoSmithKline diabetes drug.
• Pink Floyd Syd Barrett dies from diabetes complications.
• Update on fatal NC car crash involving diabetic driver.
• Major study links Type 2 diabetes and glaucoma risk.
• Life insurance industry plays catch-up.
• A1c Champions program trains diabetes mentors.
• Danish study confirms suspected diabetes, multiple sclerosis link.
• Debate continues on virtues, shortcomings of inhalable insulin, Exubera.
• Blogger's advice to T2 diabetics: follow in footsteps of movie producer Weinstein.
• Diabetes, obesity blamed for sky-high US kidney failure rates.
• Canadians await approval of inhalable insulin.
• Lifestyle ed could greatly reduce diabetes onset in older Americans, say researchers.

To your good health! To a great week!

Lord of the Rings Oscar award-winning filmmakers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh have donated over $300,000 dollars to the University of California for human embryonic stem cell research.

Jackson is quoted as saying, "We have lost close friends and relatives to cancer and Parkinson's disease, and the level of personal suffering inflicted on patients and their families by these diseases is horrific."

The Bill and Joan Jackson Scholars Fund, in honor of Jackson's parents, will be established through the university to award two scholarships to students specializing in stem cell research. Because the US government restricts research funding for the use of stem cells from human embryos -- which some religious groups have objected to as morally equivalent to abortion -- and others support as the path to cures for many diseases including cancer -- human embryonic stem cell research in this country requires private funding.

"Stem cell therapy has the potential to treat a multitude of diseases and illnesses, which up until now have been labelled incurable. It has the capacity to exponentially improve the quality of life for those who currently suffer from spinal cord injury, diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and many other debilitating medical conditions, " stated Jackson.

The best solution to any problem is that one that satisfactorily answers everyone's concerns. Stem cell research is currently posing an ethical dilemma for the scientific community -- who realize that advances in stem cell therapy might one day bring the cure for many diseases, including cancer and diabetes. Because of the ethical challenges this type of research presents, rigorous standards have been put into place in order that stem cell research be allowed to continue. Stem cell research is simply to promising to be abandoned. In spite of this, there are opponents who remain uncomfortable with stem cell research.

Institute for Stem Cell Research at the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom may have opened the door to a win-win situation for all sides of the stem cell research debate, as they have discovered Nanog, a molecule with the extraordinary ability that allows them to reprogram an adult cell and turn it into a embryonic stem cell. At this point, it is just a door opening, and the researchers caution there is more research to be done. But this is a significant breakthrough and the race to perfect this process will heat up in the scientific community. The profound potential cures for diseases using embryonic stem cells is the hope and promise of a future not yet real, but very much imagined. The imagination will lead us to the reality.

By injecting laboratory mice with human embryonic stem cells, Technion Institute of Technology in Israel researchers have created mice that are partly-human. After the injection of human embryonic stem cells, the mice grew mixed lumps of human tissue called tetromas. Testing experimental drugs on tetromas in mice eliminates the need to put human volunteer test subjects at a potentially life-threatening danger of unknown adverse reactions to new drugs being developed and tested for safety.

Until now, the only way to determine if an experimental drug was effective, or safe, was to test it on monkeys or human volunteers. The problem is that monkeys do not always have the same reaction to a drug that humans do. While developing laboratory mice that grow human lumps of tissue sounds freakishly Frankenstein, humanized mice do allow scientists to make much more accurate advances in the development of effective and safe drugs to treat cancer.

According to Professor Yoram Reiter, "Scientists are currently able to cure cancer in mice, but not in humans. It is hoped that the humanized mice will throw light on this discrepancy and help scientists fine tune cancer treatments."