Stem Cell Research: Frist v. Bush

[Mike the Lab Rat]

Some facts which may or may not change some folks POV:

- embryonic stem cells from human have really only been around for about seven years. Dr. Jim Thompson from the Univ. of Wisconsin (Madison) was the guy who gets the credit for being the first to get stem cells from fertility clinic embryos, back in '98. Seven years is NOT a long time in which to determine all possible experimental uses.

- When folks hear that the stem cells come from embyos. lots of them probably picture FETUSES (I know that my in-laws and parents did...). The embryos being used don't even look like frigging sea monkeys and are not from abortions. The embryos being used are a)leftovers from IVF attempts and b) are smaller than a period produced by a typewriter. The July issue of National Geographic has a great photo on page 11 of a typical, spherical embryo sitting in (and dwarfed by) the eye of a needle.

This latter point matters not a bit to people who believe that human life begins the microsecond that sperm hits egg. This view, however, is a strictly religious one -even when stated by scientists-, not a scientific one. Science cannot determine when "human life" begins or how it is defined. If you hear a doctor or scientist stating that the embryo is a "person", that statement is merely their personal/religious view, backed by no scientific evidence.

My personal view is that ESC research, like ALL scientific research, should be done by the private sector. Scientists are no more entitled to suck off the public teat than any other researchers, plus being free of federal funding *should* also mean that the feds will keep their grubby paws off of the products resulting from the research (like forcing companies to distribute the treatments that result at below what the companies want to charge).

I'd chalk up a lot of the hesitatition on the private sector's part thus far to a) fear that Bible-thumpers will enact laws to outlaw the research regardless of funding source and b) the hope/fear that at some point, gubmint funds WILL be cut loose - which could result in "free" cash for the private researchers OR "free" cash for their public sector competitors, who'll be able to use the funding to lower their personal overhead and outcompete the private folks unfairly.

There's also the hesitation on the part of biotechs to do some work because of the high research costs, legal liability issues (which have scared vaccine makers), and the possibility of governments forcing them to distribute products at unfairly low prices or shorten/void patents (like has been attempted with AIDS drugs).