John Kerry and Ron Reagan, Jr., have garnered cheers and headlines recently for criticizing the Bush administration for its limits on federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research. Those cheers and headlines, though, have been built on misinformation.

The scientific community is well aware of this sham, well aware that no human clinical trials are being conducted using embryonic stem cells because of their unpredictability and the lack of treatment success when used in animal testing.

So why is this science being so aggressively pushed? Because the researchers who champion it want to get their hands on federal money — and the media have taken their advocacy at face value. That’s why you haven’t heard much about adult stem-cell research, science that uses cells extracted from sources like placentas and umbilical cords, which has shown real, documented promise in treating a host of diseases.

Being unwilling to use taxpayers’ money to kill human embryos in the name of questionable science does not make conservatives anti-stem-cell research. It makes us committed to the type of stem-cell research most likely to yield the results millions hope for.

Jim Boyes,

Coupeville