Voters are being told by leaders on the left (including Nevada’s own Harry Reid) that embryonic stem cell research offers hope for curing Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s and may eventually help people with spinal cord injuries walk again. They want voters to approve legislation to allow federal funding for research using embryonic stem cells.
It’s true that researchers using stem cells have made impressive progress in finding cures for many diseases. However, these promising results have not been made by scientists experimenting with embryonic stem cells, but rather by those using adult stem cells. People who want to push through the current legislation don’t want voters to realize the vital difference between these two kinds of experiments.
Embryonic stem cells, as most people know, are derived from human embryos in the first few days after the egg and sperm have joined to form a human being. In order to get cells for their experiments, scientists have to kill these embryos, which many people of conscience believe is murder.
Adult stem cells, in contrast, present no moral problems. They are found in many areas of the body, including fat cells, bone marrow and skin. They can be easily harvested and are readily available. It is this type of stem cell that has been used in successful scientific trials. Less mature stem cells are also found in the amniotic fluid surrounding the developing fetus, as well as in the placenta and the umbilical cord. These cells could be collected every time a baby is born.
Since there are all these other sources of cells for experiments, why are people clamoring to use stem cells that can only be obtained by killing embryos? In many cases, uninformed people have been duped into believing that only stem cells from human embryos offer a cure for themselves or a family member. Like Michael J. Fox, they become very convincing spokespeople. But behind this campaign of disinformation are people with an agenda that has nothing to do with compassion for suffering victims, and everything to do with greed.
If a biotech company clones embryos to develop identical cells that can be turned into pure tissue types, anyone who wants to use these cloned cells will have to pay a premium to the biotech company holding the patent on them. This is the reason the biotech and pharmaceutical companies want to use them for experiments. Adult stem cells cannot be patented, because they come from our bodies.
As in any other industry, there are unscrupulous people in the biotech field. They would be willing to disregard all the moral considerations about killing developing human beings if it would result in a multi-billion dollar deal. You might therefore expect investors to be lining up to put their money into embryonic stem cell research in hopes of hitting the jackpot: a cure for Alzheimer’s or something similar. This isn’t happening, for the simple reason that experiments using this type of cell have not produced a single, verifiable cure for any disease or injury in either animal or human trials. In fact, there have been disturbing results, including the growth of tumors in animal subjects.
Biotech companies, in an effort to keep their companies in business, are therefore looking for another source of funds – the federal government. Instead of having to prove their case to potential investors, who are savvy enough to avoid something with no record of success, they only have to fool enough voters to create a political push for embryonic stem cell research. One way to do this is to taken credit for the success of adult stem cell experiments to cover up the fact that embryonic stem cell experiments have failed miserably.
Their backup plan is to get state legislatures to agree to fund research. In 2004, California voters approved a $3 billion ballot initiative permitting stem cell scientists to circumvent federal restrictions. Missouri passed a ballot measure in November 2006 that was promoted as an “anti-cloning amendment.” However, buried in the fine print was legal protection for cloning human embryos.