“Nobody has ever said there are 64 completely developed [stem-cell] lines. Nobody has ever said that.”
–Tommy Thompson, in a Sept. 6 interview with Laura Meckler of the Associated Press. The day before, Thompson told a Senate hearing that there were 24 or 25 completely developed stem-cell lines. To view or listen to the hearing, click here.
“I would like to point out–you know, there’s a lot of questions about, you know, the viability of these cell lines. And let me just explain that a little bit for you, the listening public. There are 60 that we know of, real, viable, robust embryonic stem-cell lines [italics Chatterbox’s] across the country, around the world.”
–Thompson, in an Aug. 12 appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press.
“I requested the scientists at NIH on behalf of the president, to find out exactly how many embryonic stem-cell lines are available for use, for research. And we were surprised, I was surprised, the scientists at NIH were. And they made a detailed inventory, and not only did they do it before the president’s speech, they did it subsequent to the president’s speech, and they once again corroborated, the scientists did [at] NIH, that there are 60 viable,robust [italics Chatterbox’s],diversified embryonic stem-cell lines available for research. … [T]he research can be done on the existing lines. They’re robust [italics Chatterbox’s], they’re diversified, they’re going to give the scientists all the information they need. …”
–Thompson, in an Aug. 12 appearance on CNN Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer.
(Thanks to multiple readers.)
Got a whopper? Send it to chatterbox@slate.com. To be considered, an entry must be an unambiguously false statement paired with an unambiguous refutation, and both must be derived from some appropriately reliable public source. Preference will be given to newspapers and other documents that Chatterbox can link to online.
Whopper Archive:
Aug. 30, 2001: HHS spokesman Bill Pierce
Aug. 23, 2001: Variety Editor Peter Bart
Aug. 17, 2001: Tom Daschle
Aug 10, 2001: Robert Mueller
Aug. 3, 2001: Barbara Olson
July 27, 2001: Jeffrey Archer
July 20, 2001: George W. Bush
July 13, 2001: George W. Bush
July 6, 2001: Sumner Redstone
June 29, 2001: David Brock
June 22, 2001: Edmund Morris
June 15, 2001: George W. Bush
June 8, 2001: Nepali Prince Regent (subsequently, King) Gyanendra
June 1, 2001: Mary McGrory
May 25, 2001: Ari Fleischer
May 18, 2001: York, Pa., Mayor Charles Robertson
May 11, 2001: Ted Olson
May 4, 2001: Rear Admiral Craig Quigley
April 27, 2001: Ben Affleck
April 20, 2001: South Carolina state legislator Chip Limehouse
April 13, 2001: Gray Davis
April 6, 2001: Sumner Redstone
March 30, 2001: Spencer Abraham
March 23, 2001: George W. Bush, Rep. Jennifer Dunn, and/or the Treasury Department
March 16, 2001: George W. Bush
March 9, 2001: Russ Freyman, spokesman, National Association of Manufacturers
March 2, 2001: Paul O’Neill
Feb. 23, 2001: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton
Feb. 16, 2001: Oscar spokesman John Pavlik
Feb. 9, 2001: Lynne Cheney
Feb. 2, 2001: Bobby Thomson
Jan. 26, 2001: Denise Rich
