Posted by
John Caile on Monday, March 09, 2009 10:52:27 AM
Using the canard (that's "lie" for you public school students) that he is "motivated by science, not ideology" Barak Obama has signed an executive order allowing funding for "stem cell research." Wow, a triumph of reason over religion, right? After all, isn't it those right-wing
Christians who want to keep Michael J. Fox from being cured of
Parkinson's disease?
In a word, NO. Obama's "stem-cell" order is a perfect
example of how, like most liberals, Obama is more than willing to ignore science for the sake of politics - not to mention once again misleading the American public. How so?
First of all, the debate is NOT about "stem-cell research" - it
is about what kinds of stem-cell research should be funded. Often lost
(or hidden?) in the debate is the fact that there are essentially TWO
kinds of stem cells: adult stem cells, and embryonic stem-cells.
Setting all ideology aside, let's look at the science. Since
there is already extensive research data on both types of stem cells, funding should be based on which protocols work, and which don't. And in this area the science is clear.
Adult stem cells have already been used to develop cures for dozens of
ailments, and have successfully been used to cure real people,
thousands of them. Additionally, treatments utilizing adult stem cells
have extremely low incidences of negative side affects. In other words,
SCIENCE has shown efficacious treatments with little downside risk using
ADULT stem cells.
But what about those embryonic stem cells, the ones that liberals always seem so obsessed with finding a use for (they never want to pass up a chance to kill a human embryo)? Well, embryonic stem cells have been the subject of
research for over 25 years, both here and around the world. Hundreds of
millions of dollars has been put into embryonic stem cell research.
And how many people have been successfully treated using embryonic stem
cells?
Zero.
That's right. Not a single viable treatment has been developed using
embryonic stem cells, and not a single patient has been cured. And
there's more. The few attempts at embryonic stem cell treatments have
shown a high rate of negative side affects, including malignant tumors.
One of the few human trials involved a man in China who was treated
with embryonic stem cell therapy - he developed so many tumors that he
died.
OK. So we have two types of stem cell treatments: Adult stem cells,
that have a demonstrated record of success, with minimal side affects.
And then we have embryonic stem cells, with an abysmal record of
failure, along with numerous side affects. Now, which treatment would
be the one that SCIENCE indicates is the one where we should put our
money? Obviously, adult stem cells are the way to go.
Their continuing support of government scams like ethanol subsidies to reduce "human induced global warming" (in the face of ever more scientific evidence that the earth is actually cooling) has already shown that Obama and his liberal cohorts will ignore science whenever it conflicts with their socialist ideology.
That Obama now supports dumping billions of dollars into embryonic stem
cell research when the science to date clearly argues against it, simply proves once again that it is politics, not science, that will continue to drive his presidency.