Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Korean stem cell rout...

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Sun, 1 Jan 2006, Jonathan King wrote:

> On 1/1/06, Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED> wrote:
> > The Korean researcher claimed to have cloned human cells, cloned a dog 
> > and produced human stem cells from cloned tissue.  He probably made it 
> > all up. So this means that we are stuck using frozen embryos, but not 
> > in the US where GWB in his infinite wisdom has decided that they should 
> > be thrown in the trash instead.
>
> That's not exactly correct.  Bush's executive order only affects 
> research funded by the federal government.

Right.  It isn't illegal to do research with human embryos, but research 
is very limited due to the federal funding ban.


> I now Mike is really annoyed by Bush's order, and I am, too.  But what 
> annoys me most was the fact that Bush was told that we did not, in fact, 
> have really enough existing stem cell lines to support near- to mid-term 
> research as a matter of fact, but Bush claimed that we did. In 
> retrospect, it was one of the first well-known cases where the 
> administration twisted or invented facts so that they appeared to 
> support a policy position that was developed independently of the facts.


So some of these claims by Bush from an address given on August 9, 2001, 
were known to be false at the time?

   http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/08/20010809-2.html

   As a result of private research, more than 60 genetically diverse stem
   cell lines already exist.  They were created from embryos that have
   already been destroyed, and they have the ability to regenerate
   themselves indefinitely, creating ongoing opportunities for research.
   I have concluded that we should allow federal funds to be used for
   research on these existing stem cell lines, where the life and death
   decision has already been made.

   Leading scientists tell me research on these 60 lines has great promise
   that could lead to breakthrough therapies and cures.  This allows us to
   explore the promise and potential of stem cell research without
   crossing a fundamental moral line, by providing taxpayer funding that
   would sanction or encourage further destruction of human embryos that
   have at least the potential for life.

The great congressman Henry Waxman had a few things to say:

http://www.democrats.reform.house.gov/story.asp?ID=875

Mike

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