Bush Opposes Using Embryos for Research

Here is an article which sums the issue up nicely:

Article about stem cell research

A quote from the article Phoenix linked

"Imagine that we had discovered the "missing link" which could help cure some of the most deadly and disabling diseases.
Suppose that link led us to the cure for cancer, diabetes, Lou Gehrig's disease, Parkinson's or Alzheimer's.
Suppose we could heal spinal cord injuries so easily that victims could one day get up and walk away from their lifetime confinement to wheelchairs."

This is the problem with the debate over stem cell research, it is being over sold as a cure by it's proponents. By themselves stems cells are unlikely to do any of the above. The research is important and will lead to new insights and possibly pathways to resolve all of the above listed problems but this kind of hype is just as likely to create a backlash if and when the miracles are not forth coming. It is time that proponents of stem cell research got a perspective on this. At the moment it is a research tool and nothing more.

Acquiunk

At the moment it is a research tool and nothing more.

If as you say it is a research tool and no doubt it is. Why not use it and every other research tool at our command? No stone should be unturned. We are engaged in a war against terror. We should also be engaged in one against pain and suffering?

Industrial pharmaceutical research is directed towards those diseases, where the financial paybacks are tremendous. Recently, it was reported in the press ( WSJ?), that major drug companies are no longer interested in the discovery of new antibiotics.

Why?

Presumably, the payback in profits doesn't justify the expense of the research.

Development of medications for the treatment of mental illnesses, such as depression, is of course a completely different story. There seems to be no end to either their discovery or to their development.

Agree. But what stem cells have is POTENTIAL. By tying the hands of the scientists, who knows what breakthroughs will never see the light of day?

Au, do you remember the electricity "too cheap to meter" that nuclear energy was supposed to give us? Nuclear power is an important part of any energy mix, and should be part of our energy policy. But the prospects were over sold and the problems swept under the rug, and now it is in deep trouble. In an attempt to counter the ignorant resistance to stem cell research, proponents of that research are doing the same thing as was done with nuclear power. This is an important line of research and it should be followed where ever it leads. But by promising the moon we are setting ourselves up for a fall that will do more damage to the prospects stem cells offer than the current bunch of rubes luddites and religious fanatics could possibly do.

Acquiunk- You may be right. It may or may not be the panacea that some make it out to be. The point is, hype aside, it IS an important area of scientific research.

Acquiunk
Hope is a wonderful thing, believe me I know. I am afflicted with a neurological medical problem for which at the present time there is no treatment or cure. Stem cell research is the only thing that at the present time offering hope. Although at my age even a successful outcome will come to late. The hope that a cure or a least that some relief may be forthcoming for future sufferers offers much satisfaction.
Hope is far better than despair.
.

Au, I am sorry to learn of your medical problem and understand your position on, and hopes for, stem cell research. I, in no way, oppose stem cell research or the hope that such research offers to people such as your self. My fear is that if immediate results are not forth coming opponents may use that as a means of squelching further research. I am not a medical doctor or biomedical researcher so my opinions are limited by lack of background knowledge. But I personally belive that stem cells offer great prospects for medical advances, particularly for those with conditions such as yours. I do not want to see those prospects wasted.

Also Au, hang in there and best of luck. The microbiology department and its labs are just down the hall from me. Every week it seems those folks are coming up with something new.

Acquiunk
Thanks.
Even when logic says there is none one never give up hoping.

Patients frequently use prayer, as a source of hope.

I don't believe in faith healing. Medicine is a hell of a lot better.

and it is more likely to work

Jun 14, 4:22 PM EDT
Bush Rejects Calls on Stem-Cell Research By SCOTT LINDLAW
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House rejected calls Monday from Ronald Reagan's family and others to relax President Bush's restrictions on stem-cell research in pursuit of potential cures for illnesses.
Bush signed an executive order in August 2001 that limited federal help to financing stem cell research on 78 embryonic stem cell lines then in existence. Because day-old embryos are destroyed when stem cells are extracted, the process is opposed by some conservatives who link it to abortion.
Shortly before Reagan's death, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry and 57 other senators asked Bush to relax the restrictions. Nancy Reagan has long argued that using stem cells from embryos could lead to cures for a number of diseases like the Alzheimer's that afflicted her husband. Bush opposes using embryos for stem cell research.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush continues to believe that his policy is the right one.
"The president came up with a policy that will allow us to explore the promise of stem-cell research, and do so in a way that doesn't cross a certain moral threshold that he set," McClellan said. "And I think he articulated his reasons for arriving at that decision. And that is his position, and that remains his position."
Moreover, he said, "we are still at a phase where we are conducting the basic research so that we can better understand the promise of stem-cell research. There's a lot we don't know at this point."
McClellan would not directly answer questions about whether Bush would be open to relaxing his policy if current "basic research" begins to show promise.
But, he said, "The president doesn't believe we should be creating life for the sole purpose of destroying life."

He's pandering to his base of evangelical voters. Luddites all

Well-spoken throughout the thread, acqui. The popular press is absurdly sensationalistic on these issues. Might I just add, if someone can find a true adult stem cell, the debate may well be moot, which may be just as well.

And the debate in Europe (particularly in England) is not all that different than it is here. Most countries are trying to proceed with caution with both cloning and stem cell research.

And the evidence is?

I agree with President Bush and I'm not even a Christian. How would you explain that?

Has Nancy Regan suddenly become a molecular
biologist/cell biologist? Does this explain her sudden zeal, relative to scientific research.