Stem cell amendment poses many problems

There are so many problems with the proposed "Human Cures Initiative" Amendment No. 2 that they can't all be adequately presented in this limited space.

Ask yourself why 95 percent of the funding of the promotion of the amendment comes from the Stower family, whose company stands to benefit the most from the public funds that would result from the passage of the proposed amendment.

The truly sad part of the amendment's promotion is that it "hypes hope" of an imminent cure of so many diseases from embryonic stem cell research. The deception of the hype is that embryonic stem cell research has not yielded a single cure or treatment even in animals despite more than 20 years of trying. Adult stem cell research, on the other hand, has yielded at least 72 human treatments or cures, and the list continues to grow larger every year.

If this amendment passes, it could actually cause a delay in the development of cures, because the state will be forced to divert funds away from successful adult stem cell research to fund the unsuccessful embryonic stem cell research. What a pity to see that the result of the amendment's passage would be to prevent the very cures and treatments that the supporters of the amendment claim it would achieve.

Gerard A. Nieters
O'Fallon

A Letter to the Editor of the Post Dispatch