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July 30, 2004
Criticism of Ron Reagan
I've debated whether to post this or not, but I believe there is good information in the article. I do believe that all sides should be presented.
Michael Fumento has an article in the conservative National Review on Ron Reagan's speech. With one quibble, he is accurate on the facts. The quibble? He says "embryonic stem cells have never been tested on a human", that isn't true. (Such as this reference to research on Huntington's Disease patients.) He also goes a little heavy handed in his criticism of Ron Reagan.
However, he makes several points that are worth repeating here:
Far from blocking federal embryonic-stem-cell research funding, Bush specifically authorized it so long as it used existing lines of embryonic cells. ... "Adult stem cells" can be extracted from various places in the human body as well as blood in umbilical cords and placentas. They were first used to treat human illness in 1957.
By the 1980s, adult stem cells were literally curing a variety of cancers and other diseases; embryonic stem cells have never been tested on a human. Adult stem cells now treat about 80 different diseases; again embryonic stem cells have treated no one. Adult stem cells obviously aren't rejected when taken from a patient's own body, though they may be from an unmatched donor; embryonic stem cells have surface proteins that often cause rejection. Implanted embryonic stem cells also have a nasty tendency to multiply uncontrollably, a process called "cancer." Oops.
The only potential advantage embryonic stem cells ever had was the belief that only they could be coaxed into becoming all the different cells of the body. We don't even know whether that's true. Conversely, three different labs have now discovered it may be true of certain adult stem cells.
Further, perhaps we have no need for "one size fits all." In recent years researchers have found that they can tease various adult stem cells into far more types of mature tissue than was previously thought possible. Moreover, they seem to find adult stem cells essentially wherever they look — including blood, bone marrow, skin, brains, spinal cords, dental pulp, muscles, blood vessels, corneas, retinas, livers, pancreases, fat, hair follicles, placentas, umbilical cords, and amniotic fluid. We may need all sizes, but we don't need them from one type of stem cell.
Posted by Dave at July 30, 2004 07:03 PM
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Comments
Thanks for the mention, but I'm right even on that one part. The abstract you link to explicitly refers to "fetal neural tissue," which is exactly that. It is not embryonic stem cells. A fetus by definition has developed past the embryonic stage and contains no ESC cells.
Best,
Mike Fumento
Posted by: Michael Fumento at August 4, 2004 12:07 PM
And I stand corrected! Mike, you get a 100% grade on accuracy then.
Posted by: Dave at August 4, 2004 12:46 PM
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