Posted by Liberal Elder [TheLiberalElder] on November 18, 1999 at 13:06:29 {KEdmzBXaT6W7Mh5mF8eQw1IXqCKa5s}:
In Reply to: To Liberal Elder/Blood Quest. posted by WotM on November 18, 1999 at 12:05:04:
P.C.R. technology has facilitated additional research in this field of study, primarily for the purpose of screening for birth defects or prenatal diagnosis. This technology allows us a clear look at what is happening with respects to exchanges of blood components between the mother and the fetus.
A 1993 article in the "Journal of the American Medical Association" references two studies involving P.C.R. technology that were reported on in 1989 and 1990, and goes on to say:
"Thus fetal DNA sequences indeed exist in maternal blood. Among the various candidate cells, the most promising appear to be fetal nucleated red blood cells. We isolated nucleated red blood cells on the basis of flow-sorting for the transferring receptor and glycophorin-A" 2
Here we find evidence that red blood cells do indeed pass from the fetus to the mother. The significance of this finding for the Watchtower blood doctrine can hardly be overstated. Using the reasoning and logic employed by the WTS itself, what further evidence does one need to conclude that God would not object to the transfusion of red cells?
The following study comes from the Baylor College of Medicine. Please note:
"Fetal cells unequivocally exist in and can be isolated from maternal blood. Erythroblasts, trophoblasts, granulocytes and lymphocytes have all been isolated by various density gradient and flow sorting techniques." 3
Erythroblasts are immature red blood cells, and lymphocytes are white blood cells. Both are forbidden blood components by the Watchtower Society, despite the fact that they clearly are among those components that have a "natural movement" across the placental barrier.
As an interesting side point, this study notes that fetal cells can persist in the mothers blood stream for extended periods of time. In one case fetal cells were still present twenty-seven years after child birth. How appropriate then that we think of a blood transfusion as a cellular organ transplant which becomes part of the body.
As reported in "Early Human Development," fetal nucleated cells in maternal blood has been demonstrated by many groups. Fetal cells have been detected in the mother's circulation as early as four weeks and five days after conception, and are present during all three trimesters of pregnancy; gradually increasing as gestation progresses. Also of great significance is the fact that the majority of cord blood samples reveal that the mother's cell's are also present in fetal circulation. So we have an dual exchange of blood components more than 50% of the time. 4
When I can find the time I will scan the references and make them available at the blood
site.
LE
References
1-Walknowska,J., Conte, F.A., Grumback, M.M. (1969). Practical and theoretical implications of fetal/maternal lymphocyte transfer, Lancet, 1, 119-1122.
2- Simpson JL; Elias S., JAMA 1993 Nov. 17;270(19):2357-61
3- Isolating Fetal Cells in Maternal Circulation For Prenatal Diagnosis by Joe Leigh Simpson and Sherman Elias; Prenatal Diagnosis, Vol. 14: 1229-1242 (1994)
4- Early Human Development 47 Suppl. (1996) S73-S77