At a neurology conference in Denver in April, University of Washington Medical Center researchers reported initial success with an experimental therapy in which they filtered stem cells from the blood of 26 patients with MS, according to the Associated Press. They then wiped out the patient’s faulty immune systems (with chemotherapy, radiation and biological agents) and reintroduced the stem cells into the patients’ bloodstreams. Within nine days, the stem cells had begun growing new immune cells.

The overall results were promising but a few had serious complications and, after 17 months, a few showed signs of recurring MS. Nonetheless, this research shows that embryonic stem cells, which requires killing human embryos to obtain them, are not required for stem cell therapy. Adult stem cells do not pose any of the moral problems of embryonic stem cells.

This point is made strongly by Wesley Smith, author of Culture of Death: The Assault on Medical Ethics in America, in a recent article in National Review. Mr. Smith writes, “many people in this country continue to believe that embryonic stem cells offer the greatest promise for developing new medical treatments using the body’s cells — known as regenerative medicine — while in actuality, adult and alternative sources of stem cells have demonstrated much brighter prospects.”

One of the diseases prominently cited as a beneficiary of embryonic stem cell research is Parkinson’s. Yet, Mr. Smith cites that case of a man in his mid-50s treated with adult stem cells obtained using a routine brain biopsy procedure. After a year, the man had improved an astounding 83%, while not taking any other Parkinson’s medicine! Although reported briefly in some papers, this result did not get the media attention it deserved.

Mr. Smith concludes that the time for the media to “report to the American people fully and fairly the remarkable advances continually being made in adult regenerative medicine.”

Published in VSHL Lifesaver, June 2002