The political strategy of pro-cloners and pro ESCR advocates to conflate “stem cell research” with “embryonic stem cell research”–as Michael J. Fox did in his deceptive ads–may be causing very real, if unintended, harm to human patients. Apparently some people confuse embryonic stem cell research from bone marrow stem cells, to the point that those seeking to add names to the bone marrow donation registry are having trouble meeting their recruitment goals. From the story:

‘Our need is so much larger than the transplants that we do,’ [Julie] Tilbury [coordinator of the National Marrow Donor Program for the Rock River Valley Blood Center] said. ‘The biggest challenge is we just don’t have the donors.’ Tilbury said confusion about the difference between adult stem cells and embryonic stem cells is one barrier to convincing people to join the registry. ‘Often times, when you hear stem cells, there’s a belief that there’s only one type of stem cells–those that come from embryos,’ she said. ‘The reality is that there are so many different sources of stem cells. Our marrow is one source.’

The sowing of confusion to win a political debate, so that “stem cell research” is used as a synonym for “embryonic stem cell research” is not only dishonest, but it could be dangerous to sick people’s health.

HT: Rebecca Taylor