Scientists Are Terrified Of Talking About The Planned Parenthood Videos

For the past two weeks, it’s been nearly impossible not to hear people — presidential candidates, attorneys general, lawmakers, pundits, outraged relatives on Facebook — talking about the undercover video footage showing Planned Parenthood doctors discussing the sale of fetal tissue to biotech companies.

But one voice is conspicuously missing: that of the scientists who actually use fetal cells. At the beginning of the scandal, BuzzFeed News got two of them on the record, and other publications have quoted a couple of others. But the vast majority of scientists who use aborted tissue have shirked from the hot public spotlight.Over the past week, BuzzFeed News has written to more than 70 scientists who have received federal funding — ranging from around $50,000 to nearly $5 million — for research that involves human fetal tissue. They work on a diverse range of projects: understanding human blindness, developing vaccines, making better models of HIV, and creating therapies for liver failure, just to name a few. Most of these scientists have run their own labs for years, if not decades, and would normally be happy to talk to the press.But just six agreed to talk about their use of fetal cells, and only under the condition of anonymity.“What a chilling effect, you know?” one stem cell biologist working at a large public university told BuzzFeed News.Read more at...BuzzFeed News, August 2015.