Support First Things by turning your adblocker off or by making a  donation. Thanks!

I have been asked to provide more details of the incident, mentioned in a previous entry, in which James Kelly was forcefully prevented from telling Christopher Reeve about advances in spinal cord injury research using adult stem cells. I am happy to oblige. Here is Kelly’s account of the incident from a column linked below for the Seoul Times:

“Later that year I debated the practicality of cloning with Reeve at the New York Academy of Sciences. At Reeve’s request I tried to tell him of an adult bone marrow clinical trial for ALS and SCI in Turin, Italy. But as I began to speak I was physically muzzled from behind by the scientific moderator of the debate. While I struggled to pull his hands from my mouth, fifty reporters looked on in stunned silence and Reeve’s handlers quickly wheeled him from the room.

Not a word of this reached the public and Reeve remained in the dark.”

For those interested, the entire column, which is about adult stem cell research, it is well worth reading.

Dear Reader,

We launched the First Things 2023 Year-End Campaign to keep articles like the one you just read free of charge to everyone.

Measured in dollars and cents, this doesn't make sense. But consider who is able to read First Things: pastors and priests, college students and professors, young professionals and families. Last year, we had more than three million unique readers on firstthings.com.

Informing and inspiring these people is why First Things doesn't only think in terms of dollars and cents. And it's why we urgently need your year-end support.

Will you give today?

Make My Gift

Comments are visible to subscribers only. Log in or subscribe to join the conversation.

Tags

Loading...

Filter First Thoughts Posts

Related Articles