The Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry, an opponent of Embryonic Stem (ES) cell research, has reportedly undergone an experimental procedure on his spine involving autologous transplantation of adult stem cells taken from his hip.
The procedure, which is not FDA approved and costs tens of thousands of dollars, has no proven track record of success according to The Texas Tribune.
Many of us are still scratching our heads as to how the treatments can be offered at all if not FDA approved. It was interesting to read a quote from the Tribune article that suggests that the FDA is trying to regulate these procedures and clinics that offer it but that the issue is in court:
“The FDA, which is in litigation over its authority to regulate new stem cell clinics, has not approved the use of adult stem cells for anything other than bone marrow transplants”
So my question is what would Guv Perry have done if his doctors had told him that for his condition that adult stem cells would not work and that his only hope was ES cells? Perry has a track record of opposing ES cell research, but facing say death or lifelong disability, what would he have done if ES cells were his only hope? What if the medical condition involved one of his kids or his wife or his mother….I wonder.
What do you think?
As to how a procedure can be done even if it is not FDA approved, this news article discusses it: http://www.5280.com/magazine/2011/08/power-play
Well I don’t know his actual thought processes behind the hESC objections, but in most cases it seems to me that people who are opposed to it think they speak for God and therefore believe they can take the moral high ground. No doubt if this were the case, then God would provide the answer for his suffering.
You raise an interesting dilemma…..survival in life, or survival in politics…