Stem Cell Promise

Gee. I guess John Edwards was wrong. I am on my way to walking again, with the help of stem cell research. This miracle is coming about even though John Kerry lost the presidential election.
Even as I type this, little stem cells in my knee are rearranging their metabolism so that they will create cartilage to replace that lost in my severely damaged joint. And the best part is that no unborn babies had to be killed to create this new tissue. I was the source of my own stem cells.
Aside from the war on terror, there is probably no issue in recent years that has inspired more ill informed demagoguery than federal stem cell research funding. Christopher Reeve (spinal paralysis) and Michael J. Fox (Parkinson’s Disease) have all but blamed their conditions on Republican recalcitrance on federal funding for fetal stem cell research. Even though many Democrats delighted in his passing, many tried to pin Ronald Reagan’s death on George W. Bush. Opposition to fetal stem cell research has been framed as an indicator of narrow-minded religious fundamentalism. According to elite opinion, those who oppose such research are troglodytes who heartlessly force the disabled to spend their lives in wheelchairs because God tells them that protecting insignificant little embryos is a moral obligation.
Well, there is a moral issue there. But even for the most cynically pragmatic among us, there are good reasons not to throw money down the embryonic stem cell rat hole. My healing knee proves it. Adult stem cell research, such as that I am now profiting from, shows far more promise and has already benefited uncountable thousands of people.
Even as my knee heals, others are having their hearts rebuilt by stem cells harvested from their own bodies. Recently, a human skull was reconstructed using the injured patients own stem cells. A new jaw was similarly rebuilt.
Curiously, the most cooperative stem cells reside in a tissue that Americans possess in great abundance, adipose tissue. That big tire around our middles and those saddlebags on our hips are reservoirs of stem cells that seem capable of converting themselves into just about any other kind of cell.
It’s too late for Christopher Reeve, but if others confined to wheelchairs by spinal chord injuries stand and walk someday, the damage will probably have been repaired using cells taken from the patient’s own flabby rear end. If a cure for Michael J. Fox’s illness is discovered, it will probably not require the sacrifice of a single unborn baby.
It’s the easiest thing the world to make grand promises based upon fanciful imaginings, particularly when you can provide a script to a few Hollywood celebrities who are practiced at pretending to speak authoritatively.
The zealotry of stem cell research advocates derives from at least two sources. One is the scientists themselves who hope to fuel their careers with federal grant money. The other source is the political cynics who see fetal stem cells as tar to spread over their opposition.
Extramural funding is the mother’s milk of tenure and promotion at research universities. A change in US government policy would make tenure more likely for newly hired assistant professors with expertise in that discipline. Associate professors would see the doors of full professorship opened to them. And the prospect of billions of federal dollars would have research universities bidding up the salaries of full professors.
It’s really no different than when physicists promised “cold fusion” or super-efficient ceramic automobile engines. Perhaps I could get a promotion at WSU if I could convince a good looking, bubble headed actress to promote research into the potential of cheese as a cure for toe nail fungus.
And nobody who reads this page needs to have political opportunism explained. If demagoguery could be burned, we’d never have to import another drop of oil from the Middle East. And Al Gore would actually be good for something.
Elect John Kerry and the disabled will rise from their wheelchairs and walk, little John Edwards promised last fall. It was an empty, cynical vow that lacked foundation in science or morality. The promise was ignorant and cruel, and should not be forgotten.
Adult stem cell research is already fulfullling stem cell promises. And just to prove it, I plan to throw down my crutches and complete another Ironman race.