Mixed bag: Some Stem Cell Research Limits Lifted
The Obama administration announced Friday that it planned to lift some but not all federal financing restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research, drawing criticism both from abortion opponents and from scientists who had expected a more liberal policy.
Guidelines proposed by the National Institutes of Health to carry out an order made last month by President Obama would allow research with federal financing only on stem cells derived from surplus embryos at fertility clinics. The money would still be prohibited for stem cell lines created solely for research purposes and for embryos created through a technique known as therapeutic cloning.
During the campaign last year, Mr. Obama said he supported “therapeutic cloning of stem cells,†a policy his administration rejected Friday. A White House spokesman, Reid Cherlin, said the president “directed N.I.H. to formulate the best method for moving forward with stem cell research, both ethically and scientifically,†in an independent process.
Naturally, some scientists are upset by these restriction put in by President Bush Obama. They would be the ones who feed at the federal trough, because most private research facilities are not interested in ESC research, since the end results in patients tends to be cancer, which makes the inclusion of a cancer researchers opinion in the story rather ironic
“I think it’s a big step forward,†said Richard O. Hynes, a cancer researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “although there are aspects of stem cell research that will still be outside federal funding.â€
And how much money are we talking about?
Sitting on more than $10 billion in stimulus money, health institute officials have been eager to expand financing for stem cell research. Under restrictions put in place by President George W. Bush, just 21 stem cell lines have been eligible for federal financing. But researchers using private money have created more than 700 stem cell lines, some with specific diseases or mutations, many of which may now be eligible for federal financing.
Interesting. Apparently, the Generational Theft Act provides money embryonic cell destruction, which puts money in the pockets of some researchers, and is a measure in which to attempt to keep abortion legal and widespread by the left. And, I’ll be that years from now, the debate on ESCs will still be going strong, with the left proclaiming that one day it will make Christopher Reeves walk and cure Parkinson’s, and others say why are we wasting our time, when adult stem cell research has cured Parkinson’s and made people walk.
