Michael Fumento

Adult stem cells cure and treat more 70 diseases and are involved in almost 1,300 human clinical trials. Scientists also keep discovering that adult stem cells are capable of creating a wider variety of mature cells. Perhaps the most promising of these was announced in the January issue of Nature Biotechnology.

As I observe in the February 8 Daily Standard, Anthony Atala, director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, reported that stem cells in the amniotic fluid that fills the sac surrounding the fetus may be just as versatile as embryonic stem cells. At the same time they maintain all the advantages that have made adult stem cells such a success.

This has caused great consternation on the part of those seeking increased taxpayer embryonic stem cell funds. The reason is that there are currently no practical applications for this type of cell. There hasn't even been a single clinical trial involving them. Researchers admit we won't have approved embryonic stem cell treatments for at least 10 years. So they seek to downplay the Atala findings, claiming among other things that human trials are years away. Yes, they sure are. An amniotic stem cell is the same as a placental one. There was one placental stem cell clinical trial reported in America's leading medical journal in 1996 and another in 1998. If you count back, that's "years away."

Meanwhile the New York Times decided Atala's work wasn't "fit to print." The given explanation is a readily demonstrable lie, just as the Times lied two years ago when it claimed there wasn't a single treatment or cure involving adult stem cells. Read all about it!