Stem Cell Scam

Pro-life supporters know Pres Obama is no friend of the unborn. Whether it is his support for a Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) or his rejection of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act (BAIPA) while Illinois senator, our president’s lack of concern for those still in the womb is clear. So it was no surprise when on Monday, March 9, 2009, he signed an executive order lifting the ban on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. Yet, as upsetting as the lifting of the ban was, the president’s disingenuous claim that he wanted to separate science and politics was just as frustrating.

Despite the hundreds of millions of dollars already spent on embryonic stem cell research, it has proven to be a dead end. In fact, according to the Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, “Up to now, no human being has ever been cured of a disease using embryonic stem cells.” http://www.ncbcenter.org/10Myths.pdf (Pacholczyk holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Yale University and he did post-doctoral research at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. He is now the Director of Education for the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia). In comparison, adult stem cell research has proven very successful, so much so that Pacholczyk asserts that it “ha[s] already cured thousands.” Instead of wasting money financing a branch of medicine that may NEVER produce a single cure, why not spend more money funding the research that has a proven track record of success?

Robert George (professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton) and Eric Cohen (editor-at-large, The New Atlantis) raise an interesting point in their March 9 Wall Street Journal Op-Ed: “The President Politicizes Stem Cell Research”. The two assert that Obama’s executive order “pays no more than lip service to recent scientific breakthroughs that make possible the production of cells that are biologically equivalent to embryonic stem cells without the need to create or kill human embryos.” (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123664280083277765.html) Good point. If our president truly wants to de-politicize science, would he not instead be pushing for further research of those cells that are “biologically equivalent to embryonic stem cells”?

Finally, despite the many arguments for and against embryonic stem cell research, I have yet to hear more than a few people question why researchers are in such desperate need of federal financing. After all, if this research holds the boundless potential that its supporters claim, why haven’t private investors jumped at the opportunity to get in on the ground floor? Cures for diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes would provide revenue bonanzas for investors. Yet, just a few years ago when venture capital was virtually limitless, financiers by-and-large shied away from embryonic stem cell investment opportunities. Why? Because they knew it would be like dumping their money into an abyss. “Potential” means little when the money is coming out of your own pocket.

It is bad enough that we are desecrating human life and offending God by allowing the destruction of embryos. Now we are compounding our sin by giving the sick false hope that a cure may be imminent now that the federal government is funding a branch of research that has accomplished little to date.


Donald Tremblay