Benefits of adult stem cell research disputed

A leading supporter of efforts to amend Missouri’s constitution to protect embryonic stem cell research is accusing opponents of overstating the benefits of adult stem cell treatments.

In a recent issue of Science magazine, William Neaves, president and CEO of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, takes aim at statements by the Washington-based Family Research Council suggesting that more than 65 illnesses can be treated by adult and cord blood stem cells.

Only nine illnesses on the research council’s widely circulated list have approved adult stem cell treatments, Neaves said.

“This is a prime example of the old aphorism that if a lie is repeated long enough, and disseminated often enough, people begin to accept it as a truth,” he said in an interview Wednesday.

Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., requested that the Congressional Record list 69 different human illnesses “being treated by” adult and cord blood stem cells. After approval by both the House and Senate, President Bush vetoed a bill that also would have eased restrictions on acquiring research embryos.

Most of the diseases cited in the list compiled by the research council’s David Prentice, who is a Brownback adviser, rely upon limited clinical trials or observations from patients and doctors, rather than approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Neaves said.

But Prentice, a visiting professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Clinical Bioethics, said the embryonic stem cell supporters are misrepresenting his statements. He has asked Science to publish a rebuttal.

Embryonic stem cell research, by contrast, has yet to benefit a single patient with Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injuries, strokes or other ailments targeted by both procedures, Prentice said.

For patients, the standard of FDA approval is a critical distinction, Neaves said.

“The average person who hears this list is led to believe that these are available treatments,” he said. “Let them try to get their insurance company or employer or HMO to pay for these. Of course they can’t.”