Fox's Tragedy Doesn't Make His Statements About Embryonic Stem Cells True
Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox doesn't tell the truth about Senator Talent in this ad. Talent does not want to outlaw stem cell research. Rather, he does not support Missouri's Amendment 2, which would create a constitutional right in Missouri to conduct human cloning--which isn't the same thing at all.
I find it sad that Fox would use his own tragic disease as an emotional club for political purposes. But since he has, since he placed himself in the center of all of this, people need to know a little more about the story that Fox either doesn't know, or doesn't care to tell you. Embryonic stem cells cause tumors when injected into mice. This has been known for years, but the most recent example involved mice with Parkinson's who were injected with human ES cells--apparently to very bad effect. Nor will using cloned embryos to obtain ES cells--which would be authorized by Amendment 2--solve this seemingly intractable tumor problem.
Ads like Fox's are shameful in that they pull our emotional heart strings--who could not be touched by seeing anyone with Parkinson's--without shedding any actual light. Only in this case, deception rather than truth, was the order of the day.
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 4:41 PM
5 Comments
5 Comments:
It would be sadly ironic if Fox's advocacy slowed down the research that actually might do him the most good in the shortest time.
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Remember the story of James Kelly, a paraplegic, who after he debated Christopher Reeve, had someone put a hand over his mouth when he approached Reeve to tell him about adult stem cell successes.
Wesley, you are not being your characteristically careful self here. The Fox ad says Talent "wanted to criminalize the science that gives us hope," not that he wanted to criminalize stem cell research. The reference is to Talent's co-sponsorship of Sen. Brownback's bill to criminalize both reproductive and research cloning.
Right. And that is the very science that is called "embryonic stem cell research" or "stem cell research" by the pro cloning side. So, I think I was right in my approach. This is also why I link to things so people can make their own judgments. Thanks for clarifying.
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