Are adult stem cells beneficial?
Yes. Patients are already being treated with ASCs. Studies using ASCs include diabetes, heart disease, sickle cell anemia, acute myeloid leukemia, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and Crohn’s disease. ASCs have also successfully fought brain tumors, retinoblastoma, multiple myeloma, ovarian, testicular, and breast cancers. More than 30 anti-cancer uses for stem cells have been tested on humans, and many are already in routine therapeutic use. Remarking on a fellow colleague’s discovery that certain kinds of ASCs can convert into other tissue (the supposed advantage of ESCs), Dr. David Hess, a neurologist at the Medical College of Georgia, says, “I think Verfaillie’s work is most exciting and translatable into the clinical arena. She seems to have a subpopulation with basically all the benefits of ESCs and none of the drawbacks.” Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Michael Fumento asserts the advantage of adult stem cells: “Embryonic stem cell research is so far behind it’s like a jok
