Posted on 06/22/2004 3:04:40 PM PDT by Steven W.
The media continues to report that the Reagan "family" is in favor of stem cell research, when the truth is that two members of the family have been long time foes of this process of manufacturing human beings – my dad, Ronald Reagan during his lifetime, and I.
The media should keep in mind that we are also members of the Reagan "family," and my father, as I do, opposed the creation of human embryos for the sole purpose of using their stem cells as possible medical cures.
Moreover, using the widely promoted and thoroughly discredited argument that stem cell research can lead to a cure of Alzheimer’s disease, the media and proponents of stem cell research have suggested that had the research been done a long time ago, my dad might have avoided the ordeal he endured. This is junk science at its worst.
As William Clark, dad’s national security advisor, interior secretary and one of my dad’s closest friends and aides wrote in a recent op-ed piece in the New York Times my father’s "suffering under Alzheimer's disease was tragic, and we should do everything we can that is ethically proper to help others afflicted with it. But I have no doubt that he would have urged our nation to look to adult stem cell research — which has yielded many clinical successes — and away from the destruction of developing human lives, which has yielded none." And he warned, "Those who would trade on Ronald Reagan's legacy should first consider his own words."
Here’s what my father said way back in 1983: "My administration is dedicated to the preservation of America as a free land and there is no cause more important for preserving that freedom than affirming the transcendent right to life of all human beings, the right without which no other rights have any meaning."
To make matters worse, those arguing for embryonic stem cells have embarked on a campaign of disinformation, claiming that there are scientific reasons for believing that their research can be expected to lead to a cure for Alzheimer’s disease.
Listen to what Ronald D.G. McKay, a stem cell researcher at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke told the Washington Post: "People need a fairy tale," he said, explaining why scientists have allowed society to believe wrongly that stem cells are likely to effectively treat Alzheimer's disease. He added "Maybe that's unfair, but they need a story line that's relatively simple to understand."
A story line that is a flat out lie.
Writing in the Weekly Standard, lawyer, ethicist and human life advocate Wesley J. Smith reported that "Researchers have apparently known for some time that embryonic stem cells will not be an effective treatment for Alzheimer's, because as two researchers told a Senate subcommittee in May, it is a ‘whole brain disease,’ rather than a cellular disorder (such as Parkinson's). This has generally been kept out of the news. But now, Washington Post correspondent Rick Weiss, has blown the lid off of the scam, reporting that while useful abstract information might be gleaned about Alzheimer's through embryonic stem cell research, ‘stem cell experts confess . . . that of all the diseases that may be someday cured by embryonic stem cell treatments, Alzheimer's is among the least likely to benefit.’"
People such as Nancy, however, have been allowed to believe otherwise - "a distortion," Weiss writes that "is not being aggressively corrected by scientists." Why? The false story line helps generate public support for the biotech political agenda. As Weiss noted, "It [Nancy Reagan's statement in support of ESCR] is the kind of advocacy that researchers have craved for years, and none wants to slow its momentum."
Unlike the hyped embryonic stem cell research, adult stem cell research is already paying dividends. According to Michael Fumento, one of the nation’s most skilled debunkers of junk science, "Over the horizon are so-called adult stem cells (ASCs), extracted from people of any age and from umbilical cords and placentas. Not only don't they carry the moral baggage of embryonic stem cells (ESCs), but research with them is much further along.
Fumento adds, "Unfortunately, embryonic stem cell researchers have so powerful a PR machine that many influential people don't even know there's an alternative."
Note to the media: Next time you write about the "family," remember both dad and me. It’s our family too.
Michael Reagan PING!!!
If the empirical evidence shows that adult and umbilical stem cells actually produce results and embryonic stem cells do not, you have to wonder what the motivation is to create embryos and then destroy them.
God have mercy on us.
The same motivation that makes people support plunging a pair of scissors into the back of a baby's head to protect the mother's health.
God bless Michael Reagan. I'm sure Ronald is smiling and proud up there with The Big Guy.
Bless his heart. Love ya, Michael.
Nailed it once again, Mike!
Great article. Great son. His father would be proud.
ping
Mike Reagan for President!
Micheal Reagan is a stand up guy.
Because the most powerful sacrifice to the Dark Lord of Hell is a human one?
[I'm just guessin' here]....;)
Michael Reagan you are really your father's son. We are proud of you..we know how you miss your dad..we miss him too.
I disagree. It's the left with their genocidal philosophy that has the powerful PR machine, not some group of researchers.
Michael Reagan the real son , Ron,??? I dunno he sure doesnt have an Reagan features, REeagan was a forgiving man I suppose.
My father was the product of a 16-year olds pregnancy and was "dropped off" at his adoptive parents house in 1947. His birth mother and biological father have never once even tried to contact him or express any interest in his life at all. He is a gentle man who I have never once heard raise his voice in his home. He has 3 chidren two of which have PhD's in mathematics. The world is a better place with him in it.
I'm left to ask...If abortion was cheap and legal in 1947 would I be here today? When people refer to abortion as a choice wouldn't his mother have been choosing for all of us as well?
This should be the shouted responce to using embryos. We don't need to kill embryos!
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