stem cell lines faked

So the word is finally out that the famous korean stem cell lines were definitely faked . There have been various reactions to this news, from sadness and outrage amongst scientists, to glee amongst pro-lifers to gloating amongst natural health advocates who insist there is no value in western medicine and never will be. Scientists are reasonable in their upset. While some might say that much medical research is faked or fraudulent or doctored (and there is some credence to this), it seems the perpetrators are always caught when this is the case. Drugs are withdrawn, articles are retracted, etc. However other research is eventually reproduced and verified over and over again, thus truly giving it validation. This is the great power of science over dogma. It has self-correcting nature. While pro-life detractors make outrageous lies, as usual, such as claiming that this is clear proof that stem cell therapy will never work and thus money should be directed elsewhere, this couldn't be further from the truth. First of all, the deplorable Dr. Hwang was not the first person to successfully clone embryonic stem cells. He was just the first to claim to be able to do it easily and cheaply. So the ability to do this is not in dispute, just the method of the doctor in question. This is a major setback since the current method is so expensive and difficult that it cannot be the basis for any widespread research, much less therapy. But just as recent advances in nanotechnology may soon result in solar power being produced as cheap as fossil fuel energy after years of naysaying, the jury is most definitely still out on whether affordable viable stem cell therapy will be achieved. And all bets amongst scientists say it will, just more like in 2015 than 2006.

In actuality, the debacle in Korea tells us something completely different. It tells us that such research needs to be performed in the light of day in western companies with proper peer review and under strict ethical guidelines. It also tells us that money actually needs to be spent on this in the US. Contrary to pro-life assertions, this has not been a money drain. Money has not been available for creating new stem cell lines in almost six years. In fact, animal research has shown great promise, as I have documented in this blog from time to time. So, the only reasonable conclusion is that the timeline of advances in this area is not so accelerated as some have predicted. Folks like Ray Kurzweil, whom I have lauded in these columns before really need to be taken with a grain of salt when they opine about biotechnology. While I still think (and many would agree) that Kurzweil is a computer genious and his predictions about nanotechnology advances have credence, his writings on biotech and preventive use of supplements are wild-eyed to say the least. I should have been more suspicious of anyone who takes 150 supplements a day, since this is an area where I certainly know the research to be quite weak.

Which brings me to the most significant conclusion of all on this matter. Authoritarian and quasi-authoritarian, highly nationalistic countries like China and Korea cannot be trusted when it comes to medical research. It is just too easy to fake and the lack of peer review or other mechanisms of correction makes it too easy for erroneous data to persist and circulate. There is great incentive to lie in both these countries in order to advance one's career. While this is also true in the US, the relative transparency of our systems results in much less outright fraud and constant correction. Groups like Public Citizen regularly reveal the stark truth on matters of bad research, public hype and outright deception in the areas of both natural and conventional medicine. So, for the natural healthcare zealots who mistake this horrible mess for another feather in their caps, think again. Especially those who regularly point to research on the supposed efficacy of Chinese herbs in myriad diseases. There is great incentive for researchers in this area to lie to advance their fortunes, just as well. Pretty much all of the research suffers from serious flaws, such as small samples, no controls, no objective measures of success, etc. Be clear, whatever the current situation tells us about the state of biomedical research, there is still far more strong data coming out in the just the past year on stem cell therapy than in the past 50 years of research on Chinese herbs. I have written it many times (and have thus been ostracized by the zealots who were my former colleagues for this), Chinese herbs have not been proven to do anything but relieve symptoms and may perhaps have the risk of unknown interactions or long term side effects. The sword most definitely swings both ways.