By Wesley J. Smith

Editor's note. This first appeared yesterday on Wesley's blog at www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2010/10/12/more-wjs-commentary-on-escr-human-trial.

Wesley J. Smith

I am receiving media requests to comment on the embryonic stem cell human trial. I already have at www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2010/10/11/first-human-embryonic-stem-cell-treatment-commences
But I did again today over at The Corner. I point out how the media often fails to report more impressive human studies with adult stem cells. From "Media Misses the Larger Stem Cell Story [http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/249524/media-misses-larger-stem-cell-story-wesley-j-smith]:
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I am not sure why the media so clearly cares more about embryonic-stem-cell research than the ethically uncontentious kinds, such as adult-stem-cell research and the advances with induced pluripotent stem cells. But the headlines usually attached to ESCR advances -- as opposed to more notable successes with adult stem cells, which often get no headlines at all -- prove the old maxim about the media not letting the facts interfere with the story they want to tell.
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I discuss some of the adult stem cell early human trial success and conclude:
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In my more cynical moments, I think that many in the media simply consider adult stem cells to be the wrong kind. In any event, the stem-cell issue isn't a science debate, but an ethics debate. Whatever the outcome of this latest medical trial, that is not going to change. And, of course, as I have repeatedly warned, ultimately it isn't just about stem cells, but human cloning.