Thursday, January 13, 2005

More on the adult stem cells and paralysis

The Detroit Free Press has continued its series on a Michigan teen's trip to Portugal to have a stem cell transplant to help her spinal cord injury here.

The Detroit News has an editorial on the surgery here. For some reason they have to put a plug for embryonic stem cell research into their editorial and show how little they know about the subject with this paragraph:

"Critics of embryonic cell research may use success in this arena to suggest work with fetal cells is unnecessary. But scientists have said those cells hold even greater promise than the adult cells, and that work should be permitted. In any case, stem cell surgery should be allowed to advance its full potential."

Note to the News: Fetal cells are different from embryonic stem cells. Human embryonic stem cells come from human embryos. Human fetal cells come from human fetuses. Is there an editor in the house?

Why must you say that fetal cells have greater promise than adult cells when you're writing an editorial on how Portuguese scientists are using adult stem cells to help people with spinal cord injuries while no one has come anywhere close to doing that with fetal and/or embryonic stem cells? Sheesh.

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