The Good, the Bad & the Ugly: Stem Cell Research

I am just a bit interested in this subject! If you want to read the following article in its entirety, I’ve included the URL for where to find it. As a bit of background, actor Michael J. Fox is lending his support to two politicians who are running for Congress. One is from Maryland and the other is from Missouri. Fox is appearing in television ads supporting these two politicians. I haven’t seen the ads (as I live in California…), but from what I’ve read, Fox repeats facts and information that are outright lies. He is anti-Bush (which is his right to be); however, he makes false claims about President Bush’s support (or lack of support) of stem cell research. After the following article is a link to President Bush’s transcript of his address to the United States on the subject of stem cell research. I feel it bears reading. I hope you will too!

October 24, 2006 11:47 AM
Doc Hollywood on the Campaign Trail
What Michael J. Fox learned while on Spin City.
By Kathryn Jean Lopez
http://article.nationalreview.com

George W. Bush, Jim Talent, Mitt Romney … any politician who has taken any kind of lead in opposing embryonic-stem-cell research (and cloning, which is rarely spoken of, but is a necessary element of much of what embryonic-stem-cell advocates want to do) is all too often portrayed as being against stem-cell research — and hope.

In truth, President Bush was the first president of the United States to authorize federal funding for any embryonic-stem-cell research. In correcting a writer from The New Republic back in 2004, my colleague Ramesh Ponnuru pointed out, “Actually, Bush provided funding for the first time. Congress had essentially banned funding, the Clinton administration issued preliminary regulations getting around the ban, and then Bush imposed a policy of funding with restrictions.”

Further, embryonic-stem-cell research is currently legal and completely unrestricted in both Maryland and Missouri, and in the vast majority of other states. It is largely personal and institutional ethics that keeps scientists from cloning research. The debate we’re having is almost always about government funding or radical measures like the one currently on the ballot in Missouri (Amendment 2), which would write a right to cloning into the state constitution.

Additionally, embryo-destroying stem-cell research is by no means the only or the most promising stem-cell research. Alternative research — including cord-blood research and adult-stem-cell research — is already working, unlike the embryonic-stem-cell research we’re all focused on as if it were a proven cure-all. As Princeton professor Robert P. George, who sits on the president’s bioethics commission, tells National Review Online:
"the ads exaggerate the therapeutic potential of embryonic stem cells beyond anything that Michael J. Fox or anyone else has reasonable grounds to believe they can be used to accomplish. Adult stem cells — stem cells that can be obtained harmlessly from umbilical cord blood, bone marrow, fat, and other sources — have actually been used successfully to treat people. They have been used to improve people’s lives. Embryonic stem cells have not helped anyone. No one knows when, if ever, embryonic cells will be used in therapies at all. Indeed, not a single embryonic-stem-cell-based therapy is even in stage one of clinical trials. That is because the tendency of embryonic stem cells to produce tumors makes it unethical to use them in human beings — even in experimental treatments. By contrast, there are more than 1,000 adult-stem-cell-based therapies in clinical trials. In his ads, Michael J. Fox hides these crucial facts, thus creating an appallingly false impression and slandering candidates against whom the ads are directed.”

President Bush's Address to the Nation

Where do you stand on stem-cell research?

Have a great day!
Dogeldanjii!!