CMF: Government & Media Must Give Balanced Picture of Stem Cell Research

The Christian Medical Fellowship has called on the government and media to present a more ‘balanced’ and ‘accurate’ picture of the therapeutic potential of embryonic stem (ES) cells.
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The call comes in response to comments made by Lord Professor Robert Winston in Monday’s edition of The Times, in which he said that the benefits of ES cells and the speed with which they were supposedly able to help patients had been exaggerated in order to win political and public support.

CMF General Secretary, Peter Saunders, said: “The day is now closer when scientists will attempt to implant embryonic stem cells into human patients. But major safety, logistic and ethical issues have yet to be addressed.

“We praise Robert Winston’s honesty but wish that the government and media had been more up front with the public over this vital issue.”

Mr Saunders said that the British public had been duped into thinking that stem cells were the miracle cure for all diseases. He said: “This is the direct result of the Government’s failure and unwillingness to highlight the dangers and to rectify misconceptions about the properties of the more ethical alternative of adult stem cells.”

The General Secretary of the CMF also accused the government of ‘selective interpretation’ and called its presentation of scientific data both ‘irresponsible’ and ‘dangerous’ for raising false hopes among the vulnerable of a cure for everything.

He said that prestige and profit should always be second to honest and balanced reporting, while rebuking the government for its continued defiance of the UN ban on therapeutic cloning and the media for failing to highlight this fact.
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The Christian Medical Fellowship supports the development of adult or non-embryonic stem cell research which have already shown positive results with sufferers of heart muscle injury or diabetes but criticised the government and media for failing to bring awareness to this research.

According to the CMF, embryonic stem cells, are both unstable and mutative making them less safe.

Mr Saunders said: “In addition to safety considerations, the CMF remains implacably opposed to embryo cloning because it cannibalises and destroys human embryos as a means to an end.”

He concluded: “Rather than pursuing unethical and unproven research into embryos, the government should be putting taxpayers’ money into ethical research that will lead to us getting the most affordable cures for patients, more quickly.”