Some believe that there is a plot afoot to discredited embryonic stem cell research by publishing the progress of adult stem cell researchers. The very day congress was to vote on federal funding for ESC, a report was published in a British journal that shows stem cells can be made from ordinary skin.
How convenient?
These same critics appear oblivious to the successful applications involving substantive results of adult stem cell research that are continuously being reported.
On the otherhand, I recall James Thomson, the Wisconsin biologist who was the first to isolate embryonic stem cells, admitting that ESC has been oversold. One might add to that the statement by Ronald McKay, a stem cell researcher at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke who commented on the ESC hype by stating, "To start with, people need a fairy tale... Maybe that's unfair, but they need a story line that's relatively simple to understand."
Is there a plot to discredit ESC hype by publishing concrete adult stem cell research results in scientific journals? Given the systematic lack of attention successful adult stem cell applications have been given and the hype, based on hope and dreams, ESC research receives, the question seems absurd.
