” “"Whether it is deliberate or inevitable, misinformation in the medical and scientific fields about the use of stem cells undermines the legitimacy of any public debate": it was said yesterday in Rome by James Sherley, a biological engineer from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Usa), as he spoke at the international meeting on "Stem cells: what future for the therapy?", promoted by the Papal Academy for Life. According to Sherley, "strained interpretations, misinformation or actually genuine falsities have been made about the use of human embryo cells by the press, the politicians, the scientists, thus placing public opinion in an ongoing, long-term state of uncertainty". Sherley added that the height of these misrepresentations come from those who state that "scientists are unable to determine when human life begins". "If embryos are not human beings at their first stage he asked what else could they be?". Another wide field of potential "falsities" he went on is that of the use of embryo stem cells as an alternative to the more successfully tested one of adult stem cells. Adult stem cells actually turned out to be ideal for many therapies, for instance in neurology or drug metabolism".” “
