What You Should Know About Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Despite the stem cell controversy offered up by pro-lifers, a rosy portrait of embryonic stem cell research is often painted. We're told that adult mouse cells can turn back to their more flexible, embryonic state again. We're told that human trials will begin for treating spinal cord injuries. We're told that the next five years will likely see a viable treatment for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and heart disease. President Obama is so confident in the science that he agreed to reverse Bush's decision and allocate funds to the controversial science. Yet many Californians who voted to fund stem cell research in their state five years ago are wondering where the results are.

"The likelihood of something going wrong is pretty high," warns Arnold Kriegstein of UC San Francisco's Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research. "Something like tumors are probably going to happen. This is an area where the risks are great. The public has to be prepared." He points to a recent story of a teenage boy who traveled from Israel to Russia to undergo stem cell therapies only to find he had little more than a brand new brain tumor four years later. Embryonic stem cell research is far from perfect, Kriegstein admits, and it could take many years before taxpayers see a return on their $3 billion investment.

Even though $3 billion has been allocated for stem cell research funding, the cost of embryonic stem cell research is high. A human clinical trial, for instance, could cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Nothing is more substantive than a successful human trial, of course, yet what if it doesn't work? "We all want the same thing — we want to see regenerative medicine work," said Bruce Conklin at the J. David Gladstone Institutes. "Although there's $2 billion left to give out, that's actually a very small amount of money. Now, if that's all spent on clinical trials that don't tell us anything because they don't work, that's a missed opportunity."

Even though there are numerous roadblocks to widespread embryonic stem cell research, there have been some causes to celebrate. For the first time, U.S. researchers at the University of California at San Francisco have transformed adult mouse stem cells back into their "pluripotent" embryonic state, meaning that they can morph into any cell type. Scientists say this will significantly decrease the cancer risk and will also negate the need for harvesting fetal stem cells.

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