A follow-up post from yesterday’s post on using aborted fetal tissue in research.
On Sunday, there was a column in the Milwaukee Journal opposing a ban on aborted fetal tissue research.
PLW’s communications director Virginia Zignego submitted a letter to the editor and it will be published tomorrow (or you can read it online today.)
And here is the Milwaukee Journal editorial board on the issue, stating moral concerns hold no sway in this brave new world we’re living in.
In a blog post on the issue, the Milwaukee Journal states they will be publishing commentary from Medical College of Wisconsin researchers this week (MCW performs research with aborted body parts, as does UW-Madison). You can also vote in a poll about whether you’re for/against fetal tissue research.
This editorial is shameful on a number of levels, not the least of which being that it inaccurately portrays the science of stem cell research. Researchers CANNOT create either non-embryonic adult stem cells from fetal (embryonic) cells or embryonic stem cells from skin cells; EMBRYONIC stem cells ALWAYS come from EMBRYOS. Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, however, can be produced from skin cells or other somatic cells. The editorial simply gets this factually wrong, which undermines every one of the editorial’s arguments. Such glaring inaccuracies mandate a clarification from the JS Editorial Board, if not an outright retraction.
Simply, the discipline of stem cell research is far broader than just the segment using embryo-derived stem cells. Not only are iPS cells a morally acceptable alternative to embryonic stem cells, they have been demonstrated in research to be medically superior. The bill in question would do nothing to thwart “adult” iPS cell research. Rather, it would encourage it by eliminating the medically inferior, morally reprehensible embryonic stem cell alternative from the state’s research landscape. Finally, it would encourage research overall by signaling to researchers that legislators actually take the results of their hard work seriously enough to divert funding to from unproductive streams to productive ones.
Thanks Joel!