Editorial calls for priority shift to adult stem cell treatments
Representative Randy Forbes (R-Va.) and biochemist Dr. David Prentice have an editorial in Roll Call urging funding priorities be shifted from unsuccessful embryonic stem cell research to adult stem cell research that is currently treating patients.
The authors point out that taxpayer funding for embryonic stem cell research has increased by 40 percent since 2008, but adult stem cell research has only seen an increase of 20 percent. Despite this advantage in funding and national attention, the editorial notes that embryonic stem cell research has never successfully treated a single person, yet an estimated 50,000 adult stem cell transplants occur worldwide every year.
Rep. Forbes said he has sponsored a bill that would change funding priorities from embryo-destructive research to life-affirming research. The Patients First Act (H.R. 877) would prioritize funding for stem cell projects based on evidence that they have greatest chance to benefit patients in the near future.
The authors wrote: "There's no controversy in treatments that work and help people now. It's time to set aside debate and controversy and come together to concentrate on real health care that puts the patients first. It's not just tax dollars that are wasted on poor science; real lives are being lost."