March 18, 2009

Colorado Springs Gazette Letter to the Editor (3/13/09)

The Colorado Springs Gazette published my recent letter to the Editor in the Sunday edition on 3/13. In the letter, I responded to two terrible pieces published in our paper from the L.A. Times. I have copied it below, or you can find it here.

Report full of misinformation The

After reading the Q&A on stem cells and the front-page article from the Los Angeles Times, I was left wondering whether the L.A. Times journalists are merely ill-informed or blatantly committed to misrepresentation (“An issue at intersection of science and politics,” The Gazette, March 10). According to these authors, any arguments against embryonic destructive research are merely religious or political, while all arguments in favor are solidly scientific. This is flatly untrue.

To suggest adult stem cells are “useful for some kinds of therapies” is to drastically understate what has been the most important medical development in the past few decades. More than 70 conditions have been treated using adult stem cell treatments.

The critique that adult stem cells are “not as versatile” as embryonic stem cells is to ignore the astounding new development in induced pluripotent stem cell research, which offers us this versatility without destroying a human embryo. In fact, a report on May 8, 2008, announced that the virus problem of creating these cells has likely been solved.

Describing the ethical concerns as only among those “who believe life begins at conception” ignores the scientific fact that life does, in fact, begin at conception. It is not debated whether the embryo is a human life, but deeply concerned that we ought not draw a line within the living human race which leaves some members on the outside.

Finally, one wonders why additional funds should be dedicated to morally and scientifically questionable research, when we are in the throes of the current economic crisis. I know President Barack Obama assumes government is the answer to all our problems. However, in this case he is fabricating a problem that doesn’t exist and asking the taxpayer to pay for it, even those of who have strong convictions against it.

John Stonestreet, Colorado Springs

• Posted at 04:22 pm by John Stonestreet
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