Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Last month, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth finally came to his conscience to dismiss the lawsuit brought by 2 U.S. adult stem cell researchers against federal Funding for human embryonic stem cell research, ending a year of hiatus. However, a ruthless war is still waged against human embryonic stem cell research by opponents of human embryonic stem cell research through legal, political, media, social, moral, and scientific grounds of all forms. 50 years after civil rights movement, those so-called stem cell stars started to talk about ethnicity of our skin in Salk Auditorium without thinnest shame, while shut the door to human embryonic stem cell research. 7 years after California voters passed Prop71 to fund human embryonic stem cell research in California, 2 years after President Obama relaxed Federal policy on human embryonic stem cell research, the world largest international society for stem cell research (ISSCR) still takes their non-consenting position by coding “human embryonic stem cell research” as “all forms of stem cell research”, erasing the human identity from embryonic stem cell research, making human embryonic stem cell research invisible, and giving their stem cell awards and spotlights to induced pluripotent adult cells. Opponents of human embryonic stem cell research turn main medial channels and top scientific journals into their political puppet dogs to try to make the public believe their baseless claims, such as that stem cells can come out of our skin with chemicals, so much so to the extent that a person can come out of our skin with chemicals, in the name of science. They overlook > 50 years of cancer studies that are for fighting the cancers, not for losing the war by making additional ones, then selling them as stem cells. Such identity thefts are even sold to the class rooms of universities and podiums of major scientific conferences. Opponents of human embryonic stem cell research are afraid that our human race would not become extinct fast enough, not only degraded the human identity to the lowest creature, but made the most dangerous type of abnormal cells – induced pluripotent stem cells to sell to the public as stem cells. It is at the crossroad that the real star must have a voice of its own, a spotlight of its own form.

Stem cell research is not an excuse for universities to get more money to build more faculty clubs just for show, not golden accessory or tenure pass of college professors just for the star power of stem cells. Stem cell is a functional term that no other cells can possess, no other cells can perform, no names can give, and no names can take away. It is time let the star, the human embryonic stem cell, say to the community world — If you are my opponent, say my name, and label yourself, either as induced pluripotent stem cell, adult stem cell, umbilical cord stem cell, transdifferentiated cell, cancer stem cell, artificially reprogrammed cell, cancer cell, fly stem cell, mouse stem cell, or any stem cell names you can think of; and If you are my supporter, say my name, say it loud, and say “have I ever met my equal, my match yet?”

Today, we open the forum on human embryonic stem cell research, a topic so critical, so urgent, so public, so personal, and so controversial that has to have the government and the elite of our society oversee. This forum is to give a voice of free speech, to provide a balanced view, to increase the visibility of human embryonic stem cell research, to weed out false information, to identify caveat, to avoid hiatus, and to facilitate progress. So if our future hangs on stem cell research, this is the place you speak for your future.