Embryonic stems cells may hold keys

To the editor:

I must take particular issue with some statements made by Dr. Michael Wulfers in a recent column. Wulfers suggests that adult stem-cell research is an alternative to embryonic stem-cell research. Overwhelming numbers of scientists and researchers disagree. Adult stem-cell research has been around since the days of Dwight Eisenhower over 50 years. Some cures have been realized from this research, and it should be continued. Embryonic stem-cell research, however, has only been with us since 1998, just eight short years. Researchers believe the prospect of cures for Parkinson's, ALS and around 70 other diseases are possible using embryonic stem-cell research while unlikely from adult stem-cell research. For example, a recent Japanese study showed that symptoms of Parkinson's disease were relieved in monkeys by injecting neurons grown from embryonic stem cells, a feat never accomplished using other research.

It is important to remember that many great medical advances have met with opposition even from the medical community and have taken decades to realize success. The polio vaccine is a classic example. Not until after 30 years of painstaking research and criticism from many of his colleagues did Dr. Jonas Salk perfect his polio vaccine. What would the world be like today if Salk had stopped his research? How many hundreds of thousands would be dead or disabled? Thankfully, we will never know.

WILL RICHARDSON, Jackson