Adult Stem Cell Successes Finally in the News.(Editorial)

Editor's note. The following appeared on the blog of bioethicist Wesley Smithwww.wesleyjsmith.com. It is reprinted with permission.

This is how I see it: Generally speaking, people want treatments for terrible diseases and injuries. They also are queasy about embryonic stem cell research and disapprove of cloning for any reason. But the yearning for cures trumps most people's ethical concerns about ESCR [Embryonic Stem Cell Research], so long as they believe that scientists are using "leftover" IVF embryos that "are going to be destroyed anyway." If they are told clearly that SCNT [Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer] is cloning, they oppose it even for cureswhich is why tens of millions in propaganda dollars are being spent annually to hide the ball that somatic cell nuclear transfer is indeed cloningas was done with Amendment 2 [in Missouri]. Still, most folk would prefer that treatments and cures come from adult stem cells, and thus the shamans of scientism also downplay the potential for adult/umbilical cord blood stem cell therapies.

Big Biotech's political strategy requires a compliant media that will willingly parrot the party line. This permits the power of repetition to steadily seep the desired political message into the public's ...