Stem Cell Miracles and Campaign Promises : Thomas-Trounson vs. Hiltzik of the Times

Posted: June 3, 2012 at 3:59 pm


The Proposition 71 campaign of 2004,
which has filled the coffers of more than 500 researchers and
institutions with $1.4 billion, was the subject today of a discussion
about miracles.

Specifically did the campaign promise
miracles?
The story begins with a column May 27
by Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times about the
"Son of CIRM" initiative, Proposition 29, on the June ballot. It
seeks to fund more medical research with $800 million handed out by
an organization patterned after the stem cell agency.
In the column, Hiltzik did not speak
well of the agency and said the 2004 campaign promised miracles.
In a letter today in the Times, J.T,
Thomas, chairman of CIRM, and Alan Trounson, president of
CIRM, said the campaign did not promise "miraculous cures."
Hiltzik filed a riposte this afternoon
on his blog, quoting from TV campaign ads featuring Christopher
Reeve and Michael J. Fox. Hiltzik also wrote,

"Joan Samuelson, a leading
Parkinson's patient advocate, is shown in another ad asserting,
'There are more Americans than I think we can count who are sick
now, or are going to be sick in the future, whose lives will be saved
by Prop. 71.' Shortly after the measure passed, Samuelson was
appointed to the stem cell program's board. 

"Do these ads amount to promising
'miracles'? Given that the essence of scientific research is that no
one can predict the outcome, to assert as fact that 'lives will
be saved by Prop. 71' is plainly to promise something downright
extraordinary, if not outright miraculous. 

"Yes, this is the language of
advertising, not research, but for Trounson and Thomas to pretend
that the ad campaign somehow promised merely 'good science' and not
specific outcomes, as their letter suggested, is (at least)
miraculously disingenuous."

Source:
http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

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