The Lost Promise of Stem Cells

Are Stem Cells a Failure?

In the early 2000s there was a new idea generating discussion in the medical field. Stem cells started to become buzzwords that drew the attention of the general public. It also grabbed the interest of anyone suffering from serious medical ailments or disabilities. At that point, most of the US general public knew about it, or at least had heard of it. It eventually found its way into the sphere of celebrities and politicians who saw great potential in its use. Actor Christopher Reeves, who was alive and paralyzed from the neck down at the time, was one of its biggest proponents hinting how it might be the key to cure his paralysis one day.

As of 2020, over 3 billions dollars later, very little has come in the way of federally approved treatment. Many people have lost patience and many in the public are wondering what happened to all that hope and potential.

Credits
Video clips from : StoryBlocks, archive.org
Icons from: Freepik, flaticons.com

References

Special thanks to "The miracle cell" series by the San Francisco Chronical

[1San Francisco Chronicle, "The "Miracle Cell"
]https://projects.sfchronicle.com/2018/stem-cells/politics/

[2] San Francisco Chronicle, "The Miracle Cell" https://projects.sfchronicle.com/2018/stem-cells/research/

[3] "In the trenches: lessons for scientists from California's Proposition 71 campaign", Lawrence Goldstein