In this article about embryonic stem cell research.
If only more people knew all the facts.
That hope of treating disease is the driving force behind this bill. Yet the “promise” of embryonic stem cell research has been exaggerated. The journal Science last week published a warning by Stanford University experts that “it is nearly certain that the clinical benefits of the research are years or maybe decades away.” They added: “This is a message that desperate families and patients will not want to hear.” But they need to hear it. They were led to support this unethical research by hyped promises of miracle cures.
Stem cells from umbilical-cord blood and adult tissues, posing no moral problem, have advanced quickly toward treating juvenile diabetes,
Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injury, sickle-cell anemia, cardiac damage and other conditions. The fixation on destroying embryos has diverted resources away from more promising therapies, and therefore ill serves suffering patients as well as embryonic human beings. Congress should reject this bill and support promising medical research that all Americans can live with.
