Mar 09 2009
Shocker: Obama restores Embryonic Stem Cell research funding
I’m not surprised at all. I can personally only think of a couple more likely acts he would perform in the course of his presidency. This was a huge no brainer.
The only realistic question is why it took so long?
The whole issue is one that irritates me more than it outrages me. ESCR is second only to Global Warming as one of the biggest wastes of time and frauds in the scientific community.
First of all, people keep saying Bush banned it. He did not, he banned Federal funding.
In fact, to be more precise, Federal funding was actually not banned entirely, it was simply restricted. The ban was on funding of NEW lines of Research, not all research. Federal funding has continued on existing lines. No one seems to recall that.
So the truth is that Obama did not restore it, he expanded it. It never actually stopped.
Hear that on the news anywhere?
And frankly no one has shown why federal tax dollars are needed for it anyway. Why not let private research fund it, as it does, or states, as some do? Why do they need to suck at the federal teat?
They also used to report that Bush banned all stem cell research and not just embryonic. Another lie the media rarely cared about.
Many people love to simplify this to just a moral issue. While there is a moral aspect, that of the aspect of the life represented by the fetus, that is only one aspect.
Unreported is all the research in adult stem cells, easily obtained similar stem cells which can be harvested from umbilical cords and many other less controversial sources. And they have a proven record of actually showing scientific benefit.
Embryonic, as of yet, and despite the fact that research into them has continued all this time, has not.
Hot Air points out some interesting facts:
The advocates of this policy cheer the supposed triumph of science over politics, but in truth, it’s the reverse. Over a year ago, researchers found a way to unlock adult stem cells to have the same flexibility as hEsc lines, ie, the ability to transform into any kind of tissue. Bush’s policy in effect pushed the government-funded research in that direction, which prompted the breakthrough. With that process available, we have no need to grind up our offspring to cure diseases, especially since grinding up our offspring has yet to result in even one therapeutic result, despite billions of dollars of research into hEsc. A scientific approach would dictate that we follow success instead of failure.
In fact, the market has done just that. While some states (California being one) have provided public funds for hEsc research, most of the private money goes towards adult stem-cell research. Why? It’s a proven technology. That’s one of the reasons hEsc researchers are so desperate to overturn Bush’s ban on federal funding — they can’t compete for any other funding any longer.
This decision places politics ahead of science. People demand government funding for hEsc not because it works, but because it’s popular. Pro-abortion activists want it as an endorsement of abortion as some sort of mechanism for scientific advance, and they’ve managed to sucker the rest into thinking that we’ll all die unless we start destroying embryos to keep us alive. No one has offered a single scientific reason to have the federal government fund hEsc research.
The abortion aspect is not an overreaction. Too many pro abortions remind us that embryos are just lumps of cells, not life. This is an extension of that belief.
Hot Air continues:
Update: Science Daily reported last week on why hEsc funding is even more unnecessary (via Third Base Politics):
Mount Sinai Hospital’s Dr. Andras Nagy discovered a new method of creating stem cells that could lead to possible cures for devastating diseases including spinal cord injury, macular degeneration, diabetes and Parkinson’s disease. The study, published by Nature, accelerates stem cell technology and provides a road map for new clinical approaches to regenerative medicine.
“We hope that these stem cells will form the basis for treatment for many diseases and conditions that are currently considered incurable,” said Dr. Nagy, Senior Investigator at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital, Investigator at the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine, and Canada Research Chair in Stem Cells and Regeneration. “This new method of generating stem cells does not require embryos as starting points and could be used to generate cells from many adult tissues such as a patient’s own skin cells.”
Yet another scientific reason why federal funding should go elsewhere.
Indeed.
Why not let private research fund it until it shows promise and then federally fund it?
Meanwhile let’s use our money where we have research with results.
Trackposted to Nuke’s, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, Rosemary’s Thoughts, Investorblogger Dot Com, third world county, Woman Honor Thyself, The World According to Carl, The Pink Flamingo, CORSARI D’ITALIA, Conservative Cat, and Stageleft, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
18 Responses to “Shocker: Obama restores Embryonic Stem Cell research funding”
[...] Dot Com, third world county, Woman Honor Thyself, The World According to Carl, The Pink Flamingo, Leaning Straight Up, CORSARI D’ITALIA, Conservative Cat, Right Voices, and Stageleft, thanks to Linkfest Haven [...]
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