A Real Life "I Am Legend" Scenario

Anyone who saw the most recent Hollywood variant of the original 1954 Richard Matheson novel, "I Am Legend", knows that actor Will Smith played one of the last survivors of a medical catastrophe that literally wiped out the entire human race. That catastrophe was a supposed cure for cancer that became a virulent killer.

In a parallel to that movie, there was barely-noticed story, this week, that warned us of a similar fate if we press too hard on stem cell research. In this case, an Israeli boy, who was suffering from a fatal brain disease, was given fetal stem cells and those cells began mutating into tumors throughout his brain and spinal cord (See Full Story).

This is a warning to all those who seem to think we should press headlong into stem cell research. The premise of stem cell research is based on the fact that those cells can become any cell within the human body. This horror story shows that they can also become unwanted cells in our bodies.

I think this story was somewhat suppressed by the liberal news media because it could have the undesired political effect of stifling active research in this area. An area Obama wants to push hard on. But, we need to be cautious. This kind of activity can truly be like playing god. We, as a country, should not rush into the absolute broadening of stem cell research. Instead, we should establish some "rules of the road" so that we control the potential for abuse and control the potential for seriously unintended consequences.

George W. Bush put controls on stem cell research for moral and religious reasons. Many on the left argued that he was ignorantly slowing research that could save people's lives. But, in retrospect, he may have unknowingly added some much-needed pause and slow down in this type of research. I would hope that Mr. Obama takes heed from the lessons that were learned from that further-sickened Israeli child and not sign an executive order that will result in an unbridled opening up of the floodgates in stem cell research. If he wants to sign an executive order, he should sign one that gives the National Institutes of Health (NIH) the authority to restrict stem cell research to only legitimate and qualified labs and researchers. Further, the NIH should be allowed, under law, to review and approve each new stage in that research activity. There will be some "secrecy of research" issues that will have to be worked out; but, I think those issues are insignificant in the broader scope of protecting human life.

The image titled "Mutation" is by woodleywonderworks' photostream on Flickr with Creative Commons Licensing. Some rights retained. (Click to View Other Works).