
Dobson Challenges Media to Fairly Report Stem-Cell Issue; Focus Founder Tells NPC Audience It Has Been Complicit In A 'Scandal'; Photo Available 6/28/2004
From: Paul Hetrick of Focus on the Family, 719-531-3336, press@family.org, Web site: http://www.family.org COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., June 28 -- Focus on the Family founder and chairman Dr. James C. Dobson has issued a bold challenge to the national news media, urging them to tell the American people the truth -- and not the politically correct party line -- when reporting on the growing controversy over embryonic stem-cell research. In a Friday speech before scores of journalists at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Dobson called it a "scandal" that Americans are being allowed to believe that President Bush's policy restricting the use of federal funds for embryonic stem- cell research is impeding progress on cures for diseases such as Alzheimer's. "Embryonic stem cells are not going to be the source of a cure for Alzheimer's," Dobson told the capacity crowd. "Are you aware that not one human being anywhere in the world is being treated with embryonic stem cells? There is not a single clinical trial going on anywhere in the world, because (embryonic) stem cells in laboratory animals ... create tumors. Nobody will use them." By comparison, adult stem cells have shown great promise in the treatment of diseases such as diabetes, Dobson explained. And they do not require the destruction of embryonic human life, since they can be harvested from such sources as umbilical cord blood and bone marrow. "This needs to be reported to the American people," Dobson said. "They don't know this -- especially when Ron Reagan is all over the place telling everybody that our government won't help fund a cure for Alzheimer's, which his wonderful father had." Dobson amplified his call for accuracy and fairness today, challenging the media to live up to the principles it has long professed to be guided by. "There's a plaque at the National Press Club building, just as you come off the elevators, that lays out the 'Journalist's Creed,' written about a hundred years ago by the founder of the University of Missouri's journalism school, " Dobson noted. "It says, in part, that 'the public journal is a public trust; that all connected to it are, to the full measure of responsibility, trustees for the public; that acceptance of lesser service than the public service is a betrayal of this trust.' "I implore every reporter and editor at every newspaper, radio outlet and TV station in the country to reflect on these words as they sit down to write about the stem-cell issue. To ignore the scientific realities, to fail to report that embryonic stem-cell research is the less promising course of action, to allow people who are suffering to develop false hope about possible treatment breakthroughs, is an unconscionable betrayal of the public trust." Keeping the public trust, he added, means not only challenging the notion that embryonic research will yield cures to many diseases, but also the idea that there's no moral quandary to such science because the embryos eyed for destruction and stem-cell extraction are leftovers from fertility clinics that are going to be discarded anyway. "The immorality of such logic is appalling," Dobson said. "Prisoners condemned to death would also, undoubtedly, be excellent research subjects. Should we then introduce legislation allowing scientists to remove organs from and conduct experiments that take the lives of these men and women before they are executed by the state for their crimes?" --- James C. Dobson, Ph.D. is a psychologist, author, radio broadcaster and founder of Focus on the Family. Founded in 1977, Focus on the Family is a nonprofit Christian organization committed to strengthening the family in the U.S. and worldwide. ------ EDITOR'S NOTE: A high-resolution, publication-ready photo supporting this story is available for free editorial use at: http://www.wirepix.com/newsphotos/ |