Letter: Embryonic stem-cell research a red herring

Monday, July 24, 2006 | 7:17 a.m.

President Bush did not thwart the advance of stem-cell research by his veto. H.R. 810 dealt only with federal funding for "embryonic" stem-cells. This distinction is lost in most discussions on the subject. To obtain "embryonic" stem cells, researchers must destroy the embryo, hence the moral objection. Adult stem-cell research bypasses all moral and ethical concerns because it makes use of adult ("non-embryonic") stem cells that can be found in various tissues of an adult or child. The Bush administration is the only administration to have funded adult stem-cell research.

Has the quest for cures been set back by this veto? Not one bit. While embryonic stem-cell research is mostly producing tumors, adult stem-cell research is making incredible advances. This may come as a shock to most Americans who get their information from the mainstream media, but there are currently 72 conditions or diseases being treated or are in clinical trials using adult stem cells.

These run the gamut from cancers to autoimmune diseases to anemias. Included in this list is Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injury. Note: A handful of people around the world have regained mobility from paralysis due to spinal cord injury thanks to adult stem-cell research. This procedure is not available in the United States and there are no federal funds allocated to pursuing this successful, ethical research. Why is no one upset about this!

The embryonic stem-cell research rhetoric about cures for diseases is simply a smoke screen to cover up the real intentions in this area of research: patents, cloning, fetal farming, etc. It's unfortunate that the public has bought into this propaganda.

Greg Farina, Las Vegas