Embryonic Stem Cell Hypers Opened Door for Stem Cell Fraud
By Wesley J. Smith
Embryonic stem cell hypers have themselves to blame for the apparent proliferation of stem cell fraud.
You see, in order to win the ESCR political debate, harm President Bush’s popularity, and gain billions in research dollars, universities, scientists, bioethicists, sector advocacy groups, and Big Biotech PR departments–amplified by an in the tank media–pushed imminent CURES! CURES! CURES! that would soon have children leaping out of wheelchairs and Uncle Al dancing a jig after his Parkinson’s abated.
Except it mostly was blown smoke–certainly within the time frame implied or promised by the ESCR hypers.
Still, with movie stars testifying before Congress, a president’s son speaking at the Democrat Convention, and celebrity advocacy ads, the message that stem cells are magic imbedded deeply in the collective consciousness. And now, stem cell fraud suckers people all over the world with false promise of stem cell miracles.
From the MedCity News story, “Stem Cell Clinics Peddle Snake Oil–but the Market’s Growing Fast:
“There’s a lot of snake oil in
stem cells.” That’s the mantra of Dr. Larry Goldstein, director of the
Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center at University of California, San
Diego, who always cautions that selling hope with false promises is big
business among stem cell clinics.
He’s bullish on the therapeutic
potential of stem cells, but consistently urges skepticism. If it’s too
good to be true, it invariably is.
A duo of new Associated Press
articles highlight this concept, as does a recent Los Angeles Times
piece on how a Malibu psychiatrist with a revoked medical license is
still peddling stem cell cures – abroad, and with little repercussion.
Editor’s note. This appeared on Wesley’s great blog.
Source:NRLC News
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