This is simply a stupid statement. In this country, no medical treatment is ever tested on humans before it has been thoroughly tested in animals. And responsible doctors in other countries won't do it either. Testing on animals of various potential treatments involving embryonic stem cells is still in early stages, as are the vast majority of potential treatments involving adult stem cells.
And like the shuttle, there are far superior alternatives. Culled from numerous body tissues, these are generally called “adult stem cells.”
Nobody knows yet whether embryonic stem cells or adult stem cells would be "superior". It's quite likely, though, that the two types will both turn out to be superior, for different types of treatments. Adult stem cells are hardly without serious problems, and are not the sure bet that religiously motivated opponents of embryonic stem cell research often claim. Some German researchers have recently reported very disappointing results of their studies with adult stem cells: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/08/050803173646.htm And the oft-cited claim that embryonic stem cells cause cancer, while adult stem cells supposedly don't, has also been refuted by recent research.
Oddly, although Frist is a heart transplant physician he seems clueless that some of the most exciting ASC work directly involves his field. ASCs have induced either muscle or vessel growth in human hearts in hundreds of patients worldwide. ...that makes him as much a specialist on stem cells as a plumber is on aquatic chemistry.
Uh huh, sure. Fumento calls the eminent cardiopulmonary surgeon Frist "clueless" about the potential of stem cells for cardiac treatment. And Fumento's qualifications in this field are? Even the very top researchers in the stem cell area don't claim to know what embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells will actually be able to do, much less what the differences between the capacities of the two types might turn out to be. Frist is smart enough to realize this; Fumento is stupid enough to think he actually understands this incredibly complex area of science.
Link to article on cancer caused by adult stem cells:
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/sex/mg18624965.200
(and I have no idea why New Scientist put this article in their "Sex" category").