US NRI Dr.'s movie "Hope"received tremendous
response
“Hope”
is a drama rooted in the debate over stem-cell research
New York, June 08, 2008
Devinder Saini
NRI doctor from Punjab, Shelley Chawla, a neurologist
in Topeka, Kansas, made a film which was screened at the Cannes
film festival this year, won accolades for its remarkable script.
The script of the film has been written by Dr.Chawla.
He is also the co-producer of the film and has played the role
of a doctor. Dianne Wilson, Chawla’s nurse also played the
role. Rich Ambler, a Kansas film director has directed this movie.
Hope is an offbeat film about supporting research on stem cell
for future medical care.
Dr. Chawla, 43, became upset when he saw the embryonic stem
cell controversy through one fictional family's struggles with
the issue. He started to write a book and led to a screenplay,
which is to become a film called "'Hope". The film has
had two screenings at the Cannes Film Festival sales market in
May.
A leading opponent of embryonic stem cell research, Senator Bob
Moreland built his political career on this conservative issues.
His son was involved in a tragic car accident on his 18th birthday.
He suffers a spinal cord injury, it sets up a confrontation between
his mother, who wants to take the boy to India for stem cell treatment,
and his father, a U.S. senator opposed to stem cell research.
Dr. Chawla said:
- He believes that some of the suffering he sees while treating
chronically ill patients could be eased by embryonic stem cell
research, which has been delayed in the U.S. by political and
religious opposition.
- The point of the movie is to put the whole issue in a personal
perspective. All of these people saying no (to research), what
would they say if they need it some day?
- That belief was tested when Senator Bob Moreland's son is
left a quadriplegic after an ugly crime, and the senator faces
intense pressure from his family to take him to India, where
stem cell research offers hope. But the senator knows that course
would likely cost him his constituents' support.
- The film according to him is not a slick entertainment but
intends to push people into action and with his film he intends
to help his patients.
- The novel and the movie seek to challenge the Americans to
examine their attitudes to embryonic stem cell research. It
tries to break new ground in conveying the complexity of bio-ethical
issues while sharing raw, often tender accounts of patients
and families suffering under the burden of catastrophic illness
and injury.
The screenplay was written by local scribe Christopher Ryan,
who also wrote Ambler’s debut feature, “Raising Jeffrey
Dahmer.” Ambler said, “The movie’s
main investors are three other doctors who all want to make the
same point that stem cell research in America is a ways behind
that in other countries.”
The film has received tremendous response from film and documentary
organizations from France, UK, India and South Africa.
When hope is all you have … it might be all you need.
He studied in the Sacred Heart Convent School, Sarabha Nagar
and the Dayanand Medical College, Ludhiana, Punjab. Chawla lives
in Topeka with his wife, Anita, and daughters Mannat, 8, and Ruhani,
4. He is the son of Dr. LS Chawla,a former vice- chancellor of
the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences. He completed his
residency at the University of Illinois-Chicago and has been a
practicing neurologist in Topeka for seven years.
Chawla said. "I wanted to educate people on the good points
of stem cells. Many people have the wrong idea about how the research
works."
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Embryonic stem cells:
Embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells, which come from the
inner cell mass of a human embryo, have the potential to develop
into all or nearly all of the tissues in the body. The scientific
term for this characteristic is "pluripotentiality."
Adult stem cells. Adult stem cells are unspecialized, can renew
themselves, and can become specialized to yield all of the cell
types of the tissue from which they originate. Although scientists
believe that some adult stem cells from one tissue can develop
into cells of another tissue, no adult stem cell has been shown
in culture to be pluripotent.
The potential of embryonic stem cell research. Many scientists
believe that embryonic stem cell research may eventually lead
to therapies that could be used to treat diseases that afflict
approximately 128 million Americans. Treatments may include replacing
destroyed dopamine-secreting neurons in a Parkinson's patient's
brain; transplanting insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells in
diabetic patients; and infusing cardiac muscle cells in a heart
damaged by myocardial infarction. Embryonic stem cells may also
be used to understand basic biology and to evaluate the safety
and efficacy of new medicines.
The creation of embryonic stem cells. To create embryonic stem
cells for research, a "stem cell line" must be created
from the inner cell mass of a week-old embryo. If they are cultured
properly, embryonic stem cells can grow and divide indefinitely.
A stem cell line is a mass of cells descended from the original,
sharing its genetic characteristics. Batches of cells can then
be separated from the cell line and distributed to researchers.
The origin of embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells are
derived from excess embryos created in the course of infertility
treatment. As a result of standard in vitro fertilization practices,
many excess human embryos are created. Participants in IVF treatment
must ultimately decide the disposition of these excess embryos,
and many individuals have donated their excess embryos for research
purposes.
Existing stem cell lines. There are currently more than 60 existing
different human embryonic stem cell lines that have been developed
from excess embryos created for in vitro fertilization with the
consent of the donors and without financial inducement. These
existing lines are used in approximately one dozen laboratories
around the world (in the United States, Australia, India, Israel,
and Sweden).
Therapies from adult and embryonic stem cell research. To date,
adult stem cell research, which is federally-funded, has resulted
in the development of a variety of therapeutic treatments for
diseases. Although embryonic stem cell research has not yet produced
similar results, many scientists believe embryonic stem cell research
holds promise over time because of the capacity of embryonic stem
cells to develop into any tissue in the human body.
Adult stem cells and cord blood stems cells have thus far been
the only stem cells used to successfully treat any diseases. Diseases
treated by these non-embryonic stem cells include a number of
blood and immune-system related genetic diseases, cancers, and
disorders; juvenile diabetes; Parkinson's; blindness and spinal
cord injuries. Besides the ethical problems of stem cell therapy
(see stem cell controversy), there is a technical problem of graft-versus-host
disease associated with allogeneic stem cell transplantation.
However, these problems associated with histocompatibility may
be solved using autologous donor adult stem cells or via therapeutic
cloning.
