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Some recent news articles and TV reports about stem cell research will be confusing to members of the public who haven't been following the subject closely, and will likely result in uninformed opinions about the source of embryonic stem cells and the legitimacy of the research. Like so much of the fleeting sound bites that pass for "news", there is a focus on controversy so as to get reader or audience attention, but essential background and clarifying facts are omitted, leaving much to the imagination. The article "Stem cell hope for Parkinson's" at http://uk.news.yahoo.com/010217/79/b2clg.html suggests that something shady is going on: "But the researchers, who revealed details of their work at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, may find that political and ethical obstacles will delay the treatment getting into clinical trials.....Ethical concerns about the use of embryos mean public researchers can only use stem cells if they are sourced from private labs." The article "Scientists may be on verge of curing Parkinson's" at http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_210942.html and similar February 17 Associated Press and MSNBC articles refer to the source of embryonic stem cells in just this one sentence: "In the United States, some groups, including some members of Congress, oppose the use of embryonic stem cells in research because gathering the cells requires the death of a human embryo." A cable TV news broadcast in my area (WFSB) condensed information from what appears to be the AP/MSNBC article into just four sentences, the last of which was like that one. What is omitted is that the cells come from frozen embryos a few days old that were left over from in vitro fertilization, were donated to research by the couples receiving this treatment, and would otherwise have been destroyed. Phil Tompkins Amherst, Massachusetts age 63/dx 1990