Stem cell work isn't dying
THERE THEY go again!
In their April 18 op-ed, Christopher Thomas Scott and Jennifer McCormick resound the false alarm that US scientists are falling behind on stem cell research because of the public's objection to human embryo research. Their real motive is thinly veiled by their flimsy statistics on stem cell research reports and their ridiculously simplistic description of ''our biomedical 'discovery machine.' "
As an active American stem cell biologist, I can attest that stem cell research in the US is still pushing the frontier. It may be true that more funding would be available if there were no rift over the morality of harming human embryos. However, many US scientists recognize the great importance of this public discussion. In the end, when the public says no to the use of human embryos for research, stem cell research in America will not die. It will just get better from increased research effort on adult stem cells and new approaches to convert adult stem cells into cells with the desired properties of embryonic stem cells, but without the use of human embryos. And when there is good science, good funding and good investment will soon follow, as always.
JAMES L. SHERLEY
Boston
The writer is an associate professor of biological engineering at MIT. 
1 comment:
I thought Wesley Smith's post a few weeks ago
(http://www.wesleyjsmith.com/blog/2006/03/us-not-falling-behind-in-stem-cell.html)
pretty well put this canard of lack of stem cell research to rest, but their lies, damn lies and statistics can roll on based on "ominous" trends I suppose. But who is "moving ahead". Not Germany and France - Germany bans ESCR/Cloning and France just approved guidelines this year! Not South Korea - their research is a shambles of fraud. China - she's more interested in selling organs of executed prisoners to the highest bidder!
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