by DemFromCT
Chris Mooney (his book, The Republican War on Science, will be published in September) has an interesting piece in TAP on the distortions and outright lies the Republicans use in their rhetoric about stem cells (not that it does any good with the public):
During the recent U.S. House of Representatives debate on embryonic stem-cell research, there were many moments that made you want to wince, but none rivaled a truly ridiculous statement by pro-life Representative Henry Hyde (R-IL). "I myself am a 992 month-old embryo," Hyde declared, in a speech opposing a bipartisan bill to loosen the president's strict limitations on research funding. Alas, the National Institutes of Health would vigorously disagree with Hyde's statement. A medical glossary provided on the agency's very useful website devoted to embryonic stem-cell research defines an embryo as "the developing organism from the time of fertilization until the end of the eighth week of gestation, when it becomes known as a fetus." So although I hate to break it to him, it appears that Hyde hasn't actually been an embryo for going on 990 months now. You'd think someone would have told him.
Hyde's silly statement was, unfortunately, typical of the recent stem-cell debate. In arguing against expanded federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research -- a position that has now become such a loser that 50 Republicans switched sides on the issue, and the House sent a stinging 238 to 194 rebuke to President George W. Bush -- the GOP leadership repeatedly contradicted basic medical information that is conveyed quite prominently by the nation's renowned biomedical research agency. But what Republican leaders like Represenative Tom DeLay (R-TX) conspicuously didn't do was provide any reason for us not to trust this taxpayer-supported agency, which members of Congress themselves generously vote to fund each year.
In fact, the NIH and Bush don't always see eye to eye (see Continued Turmoil At NIH). And while Bush readies his veto pen, the South Koreans are moving ahead.
South Korean cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-suk said Wednesday he plans to open a stem cell bank by the end of the year to help speed up the quest to grow replacement tissue to treat diseases.
The bank would consolidate current stem cell lines in one research location. To treat a patient, researchers would look for a cell line that provides a close match to a patient's immune system, Hwang said in an interview with The Associated Press. It would resemble the process now used in finding donors for organ transplants.
"We hope to open a world stem cell bank, as early as this year, in Korea," Hwang said. "We will start with what we have, offering them to those patients who sincerely want them for the right reasons."
Contrast this heartfelt experience with the Bush approach, and you can see why Mooney calls Bush' position a loser:
No one could be more attached to an embryo than a woman who has gone through the heartbreak of infertility and the rigors of IVF to make one. But even while I murmured to my embryos in bed at night, I didn't really think they could hear me. They weren't alive. Those were my dreams I was talking to, and the embryos were the building blocks of those dreams. One of them fulfilled its promise, and I gave birth nine months later.
If our leftover embryos hadn't gone to research, they would have gone into some trash bin for medical waste. Given the dazzling potential in those little clumps of cells, that's an extraordinary waste, indeed.
While DC uses the Congressional recess to exorcize their personal demons by talking about the decades-old Deep Throat mystery (who the hell cares what Pat Buchanan and G. Gordon Liddy think? At least it reminds us who these crooks and liars really are), the congress critters are presumably meeting with constituents (or at least their donors) and getting an earful of what folks really want from them. And one thing they don't want is to give up on science in the United States. This is not an issue the Bushies can sneak around quietly. This very public debate awaits us all when Congress returns.
The Medadent Mail-Back Service provides a safe,
Posted by: john kerry | July 25, 2006 at 02:05