Pro-LIFE NEWS

Vol. 20 No.2 - Spring/Summer 2003/4                                                                         Print Post Approved - 33L385/00042

Contents:

- Time To Double Our Efforts & Our Numbers
- Editorial
- Right to Life Australia National Conference & Dinner
- Washington's Abortion March
- Over to You
- Pope Likens Denial of Food and Water to Euthanasia
- There Was No Choice For Death
- Emptying The Beds
- Scotland Program Helping Pregnant Women Avoid Abortion Helps 1,000
- "All their tomorrows depend on your love"
- World View
 

Every so often an organisation such as Pro Life Victoria, dedicated to the most important of all causes, the preservation of the sanctity of human life, must assess its progress, its strengths and weaknesses. And it must resolve to improve on the latter. Pro Life Victoria is doing this right now. We have been in existence now for 22 years during which time there has been considerable "natural attrition." But there has also been an increasing awareness in the community of why the prolife movement opposes abortion. The advent of the ultra sound and even invitro fertilization has reinforced the truth, the prolife movement's claim that human life begins before birth. There is an awareness of population 'imbalance' brought about by widespread abortion and a pervading anti child mentality. We now have a society shaped like an inverted pyramid, fewer young people supporting more older people resulting in new tensions related to the provision of proper care for the more vulnerable members of society. In such a climate there is always the risk euthanasia will be seen as a reasonable proposition to legislators. And there has been born a new potentially pro life generation, a well educated generation not necessarily willing to accept unquestioningly all that our generation has bequeathed them.

All this is to the advantage of Pro Life Victoria and we must capitalise on it. We must grow and we can only do this by reaching out and inviting others to sign up as prolifers. We need to forge ahead in pursuit of the right to life of our unborn, disabled, sick, weak, vulnerable brothers and sisters. Hesitate now and all could be lost. The easiest way to do this is for each and every one of us to make a positive resolution to sign up one new member for Pro Life Victoria. This way we would double our membership at very little effort. We are acutely conscious and reluctant in Pro Life Victoria to be going back and back to the same generous support base, your very own selves, for financial contributions. By each signing up one new member we would greatly spread the financial load. And recruiting one new member each is infinitely easier than holding endless fund raising functions in a world in which we all today would seem to be overstretched. Included in your copy of Pro Life News is a An Invitation for a Friend slip and Reply Paid envelope to assist members in recruiting one new member each. We recommend considering a sympathetic relative, son, daughter, grand child or friend. You might consider a fellow Church goer (perhaps your Minister or Parish Priest?) or member of your a club or

association to which you may belong. The important thing is to not assume your fellow pro lifers are actually members of a prolife organisation, sharing the financial burden of its running costs and receiving relevant information on what is happening in the abortion and euthanasia wars! Signing up a new member does take some commitment. It isn't always easy to ask but we just need to remind ourselves what is a stake in ensuring the continued health of the pro life movement and it should then not be too difficult. Winners never quit and quitters never win! New members of Pro Life Victoria always receive an Information Package containing back copies of Pro Life News and thereafter quarterly editions along with regular Action Alerts and notice of pro life events. They make up an all important data base for all the action required to mount campaigns against the culture of death in which we live. We have once before made a similar appeal with disappointingly little response. But we cannot afford to be daunted by this past failure. We refuse to believe pro life supporters will not understand this very important and reasonable strategy to double our numbers in this life and death battle- We will keep you all posted on the response to our very serious appeal to each and every member of Pro Life Victoria to sign up one new member!

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Revelations of abuse of prisoners by American interrogators and guards at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison would seem to have sickened, disappointed and demoralised decent people worldwide. Depravity would seem to be the only word to describe the behaviour. If any consolation and hope at all is to be salvaged from this sorry episode, it is that it has been exposed for all the world to see, so that proper punishment for the perpetrators and justice for the victims can be dispensed. Undoubtedly, we have a free, fair, fearless, and unbiased media to thank for exposing the shameful incident. "Free, fair, fearless and unbiased media"? Two wrongs do not make a right, but I couldn't help but notice the coincidence in the timing of the revelations of the torture at Abu Ghraib. They occurred at the very same time Britain's television Channel 4 screened an abortion film "My Foetus". Television images of the torture and degradation of prisoners were screened world wide at prime viewing time months only after the event. Julia Black's abortion film was screened on one channel only, in Britain alone, at

11 o'clock at night, nearly forty years after the killing of unborn children was "legalised" in Britain. And then only up to 12 weeks gestation. While all this time, according to the UK Life League: "Pro life groups have been hounded by the police for showing these images of dismembered babies during demonstrations, pickets and prayer vigils outside abortuaries. Pro life activists have been arrested on spurious charges under the Public Order Act and Public Decency the UK Life League has been attacked by the Advertising Standards Authority for distributing literature containing these evocative images and our web sites have been 'pulled' by Internet Service Providers whilst pornographers are allowed to ply their indecent trade with impunity. All broadcasts must observe the law on copyright , libel, contempt, obscenity and incitement to violence. If the Pro Life Alliance Party political broadcast of 1997 was found to offend public taste and decency, then the producers of "My Foetus" should be subject to the same police harassment. Whatever is decided by the law and the censors of truth the UK Life League will continue to project pictures of the humanity of the aborted child into the public consciousness."

Meanwhile, the revelations of prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib raised questions about the 'ethics' of medical personnel working there. In a stinging opinion piece in the Minneapolis Star Tribune bioethicist Steven Miles of the University of Minnesota asked ' Why were military physicians and medics silent as their patients were tortured? Silence is not an option." He further said: " We must ensure that the U.S. military code of medical ethics and a more robust system of international law rise from this ruin". And the lobby group, Physicians for Human Rights reminded everyone "A United Nations convention describes active or passive participation in torture as a gross contravention of health care ethics." How can abortion, especially partial birth abortion be any other way described? How come silence is an option for medical personnel involved in abortions?

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This letter to the Editor, was published in the Border Mail (AIbury/Wodonga), 4 May 2004.

Dear Sir

Your AFP correspondent's claim of "a million women" marching in Washington in defence of abortion (2714) is surely media bias? The National Park Service no longer tallies official crowd counts and Washington D,C. police estimated only 250,0000 people participated.

Raimundo Rojas, Hispanic Outreach Coordinator for the U.S. National Right to Life went to the march to see what kind of message they brought. "The best thing about the marchers is they apparently have fallen into the trap of all demogoguery in that they believe their own propaganda as they marched, wailing' there are more of us. ~ ` There was Whoopy Goldberg "scaring" women with the symbolic coat hanger when the reality is there were only 39 maternal deaths from abortion the year before abortion was legalised in the U.S. (Christopher Tietze Planned Parenthood's figures) And Susan Scirandon claiming the overturn of Roe versus Wade would mean an end to abortion when what it would mean, would be the issue would be returned to the 50 states where the elected representatives of the people, not unelected judges, would decide on the right of an unborn child to be born alive. "This is exactly the scenario that pro abortion groups fear," claims Denise M. Burke, American's United for Life. " They do not want to give people, including women, a true choice or a voice in this debate. Rather they want to dictate policy and are willing to engage in deception and political gamesmanship to advance their radical agenda`

The pro life cause is for long distance runners and the thousands of ordinary Americans, not a handful of Hollywood film stars, who bus across their country in the cold of every January 22, not just once in 12 years, won't give up. They claim: Ve survived Roe. Roe won't survive us!"

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Former Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was elected to Government on the winning slogan, It 's 7Yme. Most political pundits acknowledge this. Well It's Time! again. We are facing a Federal election as early as August, a watershed election as are our fellow prolifers in the U.S.A. next November. Will we go forward in the cause for life, will we advance or will we retreat? Once the votes are counted in a Federal election such as this, we have to put up with what we have elected for four years. So an effort such as we are asking now of all supporters of Pro Life Victoria, only comes around every 4 years. We want you to "be prepare& and not miss out in the rush once the election date has been called. Now is the time to lift up the telephone and start seeking personal appointments with your Federal member of Parliament and the 10 Victorian Senators. Never mind that they may turn down your request. The very fact that you have asked for an appointment to discuss' life issues' will register on their antennas. And if they deny you your request, you can always write to your local paper and complain that your sitting member hasn't the time to see you on matters of life and death. M.P.'s are very sensitive to letters in their local papers.

There are 39 Victorian Federal Members of Parliament and 10 Senators. Ten Senators are not going to grant interviews so you will not be spending the next few months in the offices of these Senators, have no fear! ( Remember also, not all are up for re election) But a phone call is the very least we can do for the cause for life. After you have contacted your sitting member you are then free to concentrate on the opponent most likely to upset your sitting member. It would be a lot to ask for you to contact all candidates but the two key contenders at least should be contacted. Remember Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott's statement on abortion in March this year. He revealed that next to none of his constituents expressed concern that as Health Minister he presided over the funding of up to 100,000 abortions a year. Surely there was a message there for all prolifers. We must not sit back and let it happen. And remember Victorian Federal Treasurer Peter Costello's comment that he didn't believe abortion should be debated in an election climate! If we can't ask those who put themselves up to be elected as our representative in Parliament, if they believe in using our money to pay doctors to kill little babies in the course of an election, when can we ask them?

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VATICAN CITY, March 22,2004

Patients in a "vegetative state" do not lose their dignity or rights, and withholding food and water from them amounts to euthanasia by omission, says John Paul 11.

'I feel the duty to affirm energetically that the intrinsic value and personal dignity of every human being does not change, regardless of the circumstances of his life,' the Pope said Saturday when receiving the 400 participants of an international congress.

The theme of the congress, organised by the World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations and the Pontifical Academy for Life, was Life-Sustaining Treatments and Vegetative State: Scientific Advances and Ethical Dilemmas."

"A man, even if he is gravely ill or limited in the exercise of his higher functions, is and always will be a man, he will never become a 'vegetable' or an 'animal` the Holy Father stressed during a lengthy address to the congress's participants.

"Our brothers and sisters who are in the clinical condition of 'vegetative state' preserve all their human dignity," he said. "God the Father continues to look upon them lovingly, recognising them as His children, especially in need of assistance."

"Doctors and health agents, society and the Church have moral duties toward these persons, of which they cannot exempt themselves without betraying the demands of professional deontology and of human and Christian solidarity" John Paul 11 stressed.

"Therefore, the sick person, in a vegetative state, awaiting recovery or his natural end, has the right to basic health care, and to the prevention of complications linked to his state," the Pope continued,

The prolongation of the vegetative state "cannot justify ethically the abandonment or interruption of the minimal core of the patient, including food and water," he sold. "Death by hunger or thirst, in fact, is the only possible result should these be suspended

If caused, in a "conscious and deliberate manner," it is "genuine euthanasia by omission", the Pontiff concluded,

Fourteen Australians were amongst those at the above the audience which concluded the four day Congress which began on March 14 this year. For Right to Life Australia, the Melbourne Catholic Archbishop Denis Hart and Catholic Health M Care Australia, this was vindication for their intervention in what is now known as the "BWV Case" which began with a hearing before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal on the 24th December 2003. As Margaret Tighe related in her address to the Congress on the BWV Case: " The husband of a 68 year old nursing home patient with advanced dementia was seeking to be appointed her guardian so as he could authorise the withdrawal of her nutrition and hydration. He wanted the tribunal to agree that "tube feeding" was "medical treatment". Under the terms of the Victorian Medical Treatment Act it could be withdrawn at the behest of an agent or guardian Right to Life's Senior Counsel prepared a brilliant case and spoke most forcefully and eloquently against the proposal as did counsel for the Catholic Church and Catholic Health Care, But it was to no avail. The judge had already made up his mind that the provision of nutrition and hydration by tube was medical treatment , that it was not palliative care, that to continue with it was unreasonable and it could be withdrawn. In a few weeks BWV had died of starvation and dehydration." I came home from the Congress with the title of the talk delivered by the President of the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations, Dr. Gianluigi Gigh: Artificial Nutrition and Hydration, the Trogan Horse of Euthanasia? ringing in my ears.

For me however, the most unforgettable, profound and "radical" statement came at the conclusion of the paper delivered by the Reverend Monsignor Kevin T MeMahon's, S.T.D of Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary, Overbrook U.S.A.

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have met several husbands of saints but only one husband of a canonized saint! I had this unique honour on March 27 following the World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations Congress in Rome. Several years ago a young pro life friend told me of the life of an Italian doctor, Gianna Beretta- Molla who died aged 39 on April 28 1962 one week after giving birth to a little girl Gianna Emanuela who lives today.

On December 24 at the Day of Gratitude in Milan, a Gold Medal was presented in memory of Dr. Gianna Beretta- Molla because "Her name gives testimony and exalts the heroism of all mothers and touches the hearts of those who recognise the principles which make a civilization. She was a generous co-worker of the Organization of Consultants of Magenta. Led by a Christian spirit and in tune with the deep faith in eternal values, mother of three small children she did not hesitate to sacrifice her life to give life to her last child." Cardinal Giovanni Colombo, Archbishop of Milan who was present at the ceremony said: "Here is an example of someone who had the courage to follow Jesus' words: that there is no greater love than to give one's life for a loved one .......

When 1 read and came to love the story of Gianna Beretta- Molla's life and example, 1 resolved that if ever I had the opportunity of travelling to Italy 1 would visit her tomb. I was staying with the Canossian Sisters, a Missionary Order for the duration of the International Congress and was being looked after by Sister Josephine Colombo who had spent several years in Australia. 1 simply told her I wasn't going to leave Italy until I had visited Gianna Beretta- Molla's tomb. And sat and waited for her to make my wish come true! The following Saturday 1 was met off the train in Milan by Angela Valenti and driven to meet the Parish Priest in the town of Mesero. He was waiting for me with the key to the cemetery. So there in a beautifully kept little cemetery, I was able to reflect on the life of this inspirational woman. 1 knelt and prayed for the prolife movement world wide, particularly members and supporters of Pro Life Victoria. I was then taken to the Molla house to meet Gianna's husband, 93 year old Pietro and Gianna Emanuela, the baby now grown up to be a doctor herself, specialising in geriatrics and caring full time for her father these last two years. At Maracana Stadium in Brazil during the Second International Celebration of the Family in 1997, Gianna Emanuela gave the following testimony:" Dear Mom, thank you for having given me life two times over; when you conceived me and when you permitted me to be born .... my life seeks to be a natural continuation of your life, of your joy of living, of your enthusiasm and it finds its full meaning in the engagement and dedication to whoever lives in suffering..."

This is not a real argument if a mother throws herself into a fire to save a child, no one would say 'That is wrong, that is abominable, she is leaving an orphan' Le Jeune concludes

"That is motherhood, or fatherhood."

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The Commonwealth Government would seem to have found an innovative solution to the shortage of places in nursing homes. In a Commonwealth supported development by Melbourne's Austin Hospital, elderly people are being offered the, euphemistically titled, "Respecting Patients Choices" program.

This is not, as one might expect from the name, a program to provide a greater range of choices or resources to patients. It is a program whose clear intention is to encourage patients to opt for an advanced directive that would bring about death by neglect in the event that they become demented or terminally ill.

The program is being distributed to general practitioners and aged care facilities. It involves elderly or sick people appointing an enduring power of attorney for medical treatment and completing a "Statement of Choices".

There are two choices that have already been completed on the form. The patient only needs to tick the boxes. The second is a refusal to be resuscitated. The first is worded:

Many patients in nursing homes would meet this description of being unable to 1nteract meaningfully with myself, my family, friends, and environment" as would many people cared for in their own homes. Dementiadoes that.

The prognosis 'Urminal stage of an illness" becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy if it means that the person is to be denied sustenance.

Melbourne may be leading the country with respect to this development which would seem to be driven by considerations other than a desire to care for the ageing. There is no stipulation that the refusal is to prevent suffering. There is no limit on what might be refused so that ordinary, non-burdensome care is continued. This would be a solution to the ageing of the population.

When the Medical Treatment Act was passed by the Victorian Parliament twelve years ago, the case that had prompted the need for the legislation was the predicament of Mr John McEwan, a young man who had been forced to endure mechanical ventilation against his wishes. At the time the Parliament was careful to exclude the reasonable provision of food and water from what might be refused. For the purposes of the Act, this was not to be considered medical treatment.

The logic at the time was that palliative care involved helping a person to live with the dying process, managing pain but maintaining their functions as best as possible, including sustaining them. Palliative care did not mean hastening their death. The expert witnesses to the Parliamentary enquiry pointed this out very forcefully. The point was that burdensome treatments could be refused not the ordinary care needed to sustain them.

The Parliament also included in the legislation the requirements that the legislation not be used to aid and abet suicide or to commit homicide. A reasonable belief that a person intends suicide remains a lawful reason to override their wishes. The purpose was not to facilitate suicide but to allow patients to refuse to be subjected to a treatment that is in some way problematic for the them.

The Austin Hospital's version of palliative care apparently involves a plan that does not include sustaining the patient.

Now with Government support, that "palliative care" is to be extended to those living in aged care facilities and at home, through their general practitioners.

The inclusion of food and fluids in the document would seem to be based on the judgment made in the BWV case last year. A Supreme Court judge authorised the withdrawing of food and water from BMW who had an advanced degenerative brain disorder.

The judge said that his judgment applied only to the circumstances of that case which were reportedly circumstances of great suffering. Much evidence had been given about the nature of B's suffering and the particular difficulties of sustaining her.

The Austin Hospital program would seem to have taken the judge's decision to include tube and intravenous feedings in general and to apply to a broad range of people classified by their disability or by their prognosis, not on the basis of the burdensome nature of the treatment offered.

Many people do fear being subject to unwanted, burdensome medical treatments. But it is another matter to advocate that they opt for being neglected to death. There is a basic level of care and support that is owed to people, if we are to remain a civilised society.

At base the Austin program involves a premise that respect for a human person and his or her protected status as a human being does not depend on who they are but on the meaningful nature of their interactions. This is a priority of existential dignity over essential dignity. Is this the Howard Government's aged care philosophy?

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by Paul Nowak, LifeNews.com Staff Writer May 24, 2004 Glasgow Scotland aid pregnant unwed mothers in ached a milestone recently, 1,000 women in its seven-year

The Cardinal Winning Pro-Life initiative provides Support for pregnant women, from providing lodging and financial support to advice on medical care and counselling, but it does not recommend abortion,

"Young women often feel that the only choice they have is to have an abortion when that is simply not the case," said Sister Roseann Reddy, the program's coordinator. "We have had young women who have come here quite minded to have abortions because they feel that there are no other options available to them. They say that their parents will kill them but 1 have not lost one person due to parental murder yet."

While the program received public criticism five years ago when it helped provide financial support for a 12-year-old to keep her baby, it helps women "from 12 to 4W says Sister Reddy.

"A lot of the time, people who come to us are just dealing with the shock of being pregnant," Sister Reddy added

The namesake and founder of the Initiative, Cardinal Thomas Winning, died in June 2001.

Sister Reddy told Scottsman.com, a Scottish news service, that she was appalled by the case of a 14-year-old English schoolgirl who received an abortion without parental consent. It was discovered that her school helped her in obtaining the abortion.

"It is incredible," said Sister Reddy. "This girl would not have been able to undergo any other operation without her parents' consent. She will have to live with this decision for the rest of her life but what other choices were offered?"

In Scotland, 7.4 per 1,000 girls aged 13 to 15 and 68.1 per

1,000 of 16-19 year olds became pregnant in 2002. Over 57 percent of the 13-15 year olds had abortions or miscarriages.

"The timing could not have been worse. If 1 had run at Athens it would have meant greater financial security, more recognition. There is nothing negative that can happen when you have a shot at an Olympic medal," Danvers-Sinith told The Telegraph. 1 cannotlie, 1 considered an abortion, On the one hand you look at the situation and say, 'I can have a baby and incur more costs, more problems. 'We don't even have a house yet ... And 1 am the major breadwinner."

However, Danvers-Smith and her husband and coach Darrell Smith decided that life was the right choice.

"But this line from the Scriptures kept coming into my head: 'For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?' For me, the whole wide world was the Olympics. At the same time, 1 felt I would be losing my soul," added Danvers-Smith. "So then 1 knew.

For me it was not going to be an option. And as soon as 1 decided that, 1 felt so happy. Even though 1 know it is going to be a struggle financially and that I am sacrificing my medal hopes."

Danvers-Smith said that watching the 2004 Olympics may be "too dreadful" to bear, "but when December comes and the baby is born, I know I will feel a lot differently."
 

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You may wish to consider c)

bequest to ProLife Victoria in your will as a means of `giving later" and ensuring that your support lives on.

En quIl-les - P1.0~ Ife

Vicf0111d, 9318 6186

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AUSTRALIA - Bishop Anthony Fisher, Auxiliary in Sydney, has told a Catholic newspaper that the public has been misled over embryo research. He said that whereas people were made to believe that human embryos were to be used to find cures for medical conditions such as Parkinson's, all the licences approved in Australia so far have gone to IVIP clinics not to medical research centres.

MEXICO - A group of Mexican doctors have issued a statement criticising the Mexican Senate's decision to approve embryonic stem cell research according to Zenit. In the statement, the doctors warn against what has been described as 'a new form of racism' caused by the exploitation of human embryos and criticise the decision to invest 'enormous public funds in such research,taking them away from solutions to national tragedies such as the scarcity of basic medicines, the saturation of the health system, and the malnutrition of thousands of Mexicans.'

UNITED KINGDOM - A study published in the British Medical Journal has described Uganda's AIDS programme as 'equivalent to a highly effective vaccine'. Uganda's AIDS rate decreased by as much as 75% after the government introduced a programme based on abstinence and fidelity which resulted in a reduction in sexual partners and a delaying of sexual activity. The Cambridge researchers who produced the study said that there had to be a 'shift in strategic thinking on health policy and HIV/AIDS' if Uganda's success was to be replicated elsewhere.

UNITED KINGDOM - A UK nurse is being tried for the attempted murder of four elderly patients, The Independent reports. Barbara Salisbury was allegedly seen by colleagues giving one patient an overdose of diamorphine with the words, 'give in, it's time to go' and trying to kill another patient by removing his oxygen supply and lying him on his back so that his lungs would fill with fluid. Robin Spencer QC, prosecuting, said that Ms Salisbury tried to murder patients in order to free beds and "brazenly overstepped the line between humane nursing and callous dispatch". The trial is expected to last eight weeks.

UNITED KINGDOM - The UK government has told hospitals to ensure that mealtimes are properly organised and disciplined so that patients are able to eat their food. Mealtimes are often chaotic in hospitals, with food left near urine bottles and vomit bowls, medical staff too busy to notice whether patients are eating and doctors interrupting mealtimes to carry out procedures. Recent research found that 40% of people entering hospital were malnourished and of those, 70% became further malnourished whilst in hospital.

USA - Senator Sam Brownback has announced the introduction of the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act into Congress. The bill would require women seeking abortion after 20 weeks to be told about the pain the unborn child experiences during an abortion. If the woman proceeds with the abortion, the doctor would be required to offer her anaesthesia for the unborn child. Citing the evidence of experts during partial-birth abortion lawsuits, Senator Brownback said: 'We would never allow a dog to be treated this way. Yet, the creature we are talking about is a young, unborn child... Women should not be kept in the dark; women have the right to know what their unborn child experiences during an abortion."

USA - Researchers in Florida have reported that adult stem cells taken from bone marrow have successfully transformed themselves into brain tissue in three human subjects. The breakthrough could potentially lead to adult stem cells being used to treat conditions such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and MS. The team from the University of Florida Shands Cancer Centre published their findings in The Lancet medical Journal. Dr Edward Scott who led the group said: "The study suggests that bone marrow could be used as a therapeutic source of readily harvestable cells for the regeneration of nerve cells, with the potential application to various neuro degenerative diseases and traumatic central nervous system damage."

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