We already know that Texas Governor and U.S. presidential candidate Rick Perry is hostile towards science. Did you know he also doesn't give a rat's ass about your health?
Perry is flouting the scientific process and public safety by pushing Texas authorities to be lenient with their oversight of "adult stem cell" therapies. Does that make you think Rick Perry cares about patients and that he's pro-medicine? It absolutely should not and here's why:
1. Supporting ADULT stem cell research is a way for Perry to appeal to his pro-life constituents who are against embryonic stem cell research because they think it kills babies.
2. The vast majority of the treatments he's advocating have not been tested or proven scientifically to successfully treat anything. And they carry dangerous risks including tumors and death.
3. Outfits that offer these therapies (using either adult or embryonic stem cells) are often scams perpetrated by assholes preying on desperate patients. There are more than 200 such clinics worldwide.
Perry received an adult stem cell therapy himself in August for his bad back from his friend Dr. Stanley Jones. Jones runs a clinic in conjunction with Korean RNL Bio, which is under investigation by Korean authorities because two recipients of their adult stem cell therapy died.
And with the FDA threatening the crack down on the unregulated therapies, Jones is sending snippy emails to the Texas Medical Board: "Please don't make this difficult, as Governor Perry has really gone all out personally to make stem cells available to people in need of them in Texas," Jones wrote. "He is incidentally not against a challenge from any government agency that wants to impede us in Texas."
And now Texas state Representative Rick Hardcastle, who has multiple sclerosis and is also set to undergo treatment from Jones, is also pushing for leniency from the Texas Medical Board regarding adult stem cell treatments.
Don't be a sucker like Mark Halperin, a political analyst with MSNBC who said on Hardball: "[Perry] just had back surgery with an experimental stem cell treatment. He obviously believes in science to some extent." (1:13)
No, having the treatment doesn't mean that at all. We should totally question his relationship with science vis-a-vis his back treatment, because it means flouting the scientific process is A-OK with him. It's also cool with him to endanger himself (OK, fine) and others (not fine) who now might be encouraged to have similar treatments.
Perry dumped $7.5 million into adult stem cell research in Texas. It's is his answer to those who accuse him of not supporting science. Don't accept it.
Read the piece below for a litany of reasons from respected scientists on why Rick Perry's push for adult stem cell therapies is dangerous and irresponsible.
[Nature News; Image: Office of the Governor Rick Perry]
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