I am receiving media requests to comment on the embryonic stem cell human trial. I already have here at SHS. But I did again today over at The Corner. I point out how the media often fails to report more impressive human studies with adult stem cells. From “Media Misses the Larger Stem Cell Story:”
I am not sure why the media so clearly cares more about embryonic-stem-cell research than the ethically uncontentious kinds, such as adult-stem-cell research and the advances with induced pluripotent stem cells. But the headlines usually attached to ESCR advances — as opposed to more notable successes with adult stem cells, which often get no headlines at all — prove the old maxim about the media not letting the facts interfere with the story they want to tell.
I discuss some of the adult stem cell early human trial success and conclude:
In my more cynical moments, I think that many in the media simply consider adult stem cells to be the wrong kind. In any event, the stem-cell issue isn’t a science debate, but an ethics debate. Whatever the outcome of this latest medical trial, that is not going to change.
And, of course, as I have repeatedly warned, ultimately it isn’t just about stem cells, but human cloning.
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