Stem Cell Issue at a glance

Five points you should know:

• Embryonic Stem Cell Research has not as of yet been proven to cure any disease or create stable human tissue. So the "promise" of embryonic research is based only on conjecture.

• Research on stem cells taken from the following sources has already been proven, and harms no one: Adult bone marrow, adult fat cells, placental tissue of babies already born, and umbilical cord blood. This research has already been proven to produce human tissue as diverse as fat, bone, cartilage, and muscle tissue in human beings. In mice, this type of research has been shown to help certain diseases, including diabetes.

• Scientists in Japan and Wisconsin have come up with a way to produce embryonic-like stem cells--without harming human embryos.   This development shows that embryonic stem cell research which destroys human embryos is unnecessary--not to mention dangerous.

• The commonly reported claim that all the embryos being destroyed by embryonic stem cell research would be destroyed anyway is false. Many couples await the opportunity to adopt the embryos and give birth to these children, and this has already been done. Furthermore, this unethical research is currently being done on embryos that have been created for the sole purpose of this destructive research.

• Some of the so-called "bioethicists" who have appeared in the media to defend research that kills human embryos have actually been board members or employees of the biotechnology firms that are doing the research, and making a lot of money in the process. So be careful who you listen to -- someone who claims to be compassionate about curing diseases might just be thinking of his own wallet.

For a fact sheet on stem cell research, click here.

For the stem cell scoreboard, listing the treatments from adult stem cell research vs. embryonic stem cell research, click here.

For a video detailing the successes of adult stem cell research, go to http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7657261754188841795 .