Dark Ages

[logisticslad]

Bush used his first Presidential Veto to nix a bill to lift some restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. There were not enough votes in the House to override the veto, so policy stays as it is. That means that a very small number of pre-existing embryonic stem cells remain available for research use if supported by govt funds, which is not a scientifically viable situation. The worst part is that he vetoed it on moral grounds - what happened to separation of church and state?

Comments

[schnuder.livejournal.com]

I heard that because the cell lines for the remaining legal stem cells are growing so old that their validity and health was tenuous at best and that they become rather useless very soon. I do not remember where I read this and therefore can not confirm is my memory serves me correctly, have you heard anything to confirm or deny this? If it is true, then Bush has just effectively killed stem cell research in the US, which considering the fact that we're loosing ground on the international science scene, does not bode well for us.

[logisticslad.livejournal.com]

You remember correctly. The viability of the existing lines has declined. There were never enough lines to ensure good generalizability. While there are certainly valid arguments to work with adult stem cells (and we do), the embryonic ones hold much more promise for faster and more efficient translational research. International science will continue to make advances in this field, and I predict that the moment there is a major breakthrough in Europe or Asia, then suddenly the political position will reverse.

[bear-left.livejournal.com]

Galileo must be spinning in his grave. I'm half amazed that Bush accepts that the Earth orbits the Sun...

[logisticslad.livejournal.com]

He must have advisors who tell him that he would be more popular if he does.

[robdamnit.livejournal.com]

Does anyone else find it odd that the morality of denying potential treatments and cures to millions of thinking breathing feeling people suffering from debilitating and terminal diseases now and in the future is somehow dismissed as liberal blaspheming while the championing of the rights of a glob of cells (“embryonic stem cells”; embryos, not fetuses, but then this is Prezeedent Nookewler so why do I bother?) is hailed as an anointed cause blessed by the almighty and smiled upon by the ghosts of all our forefathers?

[circesbed.livejournal.com]

I really liked what Rep. Diana DeGette said in debate (yes, as an unemployed and politically aware citizen, I now include CSPAN in my daytime viewing; one can only take so much People's Court!). This is a paraphrase: There are currently three options that a couple undergoing IVF can make with regard to their embryos. They can keep the embryo for further use by themselves, they can donate the embryos to other couples, or they can be destroyed. This law only gives the couples a fourth option. They would be able to donate the embryos for stem cell research.

Bush sucks.