shrub "supports" stem cell research!?

[unblock]

another LINK REQUEST

mrs. unblock has a repuglian co-worker who claims shrub supports stem cell research. of course, his cite was based on michael reagan quoted by newsmax....

anyway, please help me debunk these claims:

(1) shrub is funding stem cell research.
-- my understanding is that federal funding is limited to non-fetal stem cells. adult stem cells are not controversial, so mixing all stem cell funding together is deliberately confusing the issue.

(2) private fetal stem cell research is legal and unlimited, shrub's restrictions only have to do with government funding.
-- my guess is while this may be true, it's a facile excuse when these probably isn't any research going on that isn't at least partially federally funded. furthermore, my understanding is that top stem cell scientists have left to work in more hospitable countries.

and any other tidbits would be useful.

tia!

[lanparty]

1. Shrub objects to ...

... the harvesting of cells from blastocytes that will be destroyed anyway.

[Lucky Luciano]

2. shrubby limited

it to stem cells of adults AND for stem cells from fetuses already in existence before he signed the bill for federal funding - very half assed indeed, but not quite as restrictive as you first put it.

I hate when Reich-Wingers claim that b*sh is the first to support federal funding - duhhhh - it is new technology, so that means very little.

Foreign countries are way ahead of us due to the lack of foresight with b*sh's restrictions when it comes to stem cell research.

[fishnfla]

3. Scientists have determined that 600+ stem cell lines need research

Shrub approved 10% of them, mostly those already in the pipeline, for federal research money, he's taking credit for that 10%!!,and less than that has proven useful so far!

other countries are doing gangbuster research across the board on this, so there is hope.

Unfortunately, more outsourcing from this admin, at the hardship of our citizens.

There will come a day down the road when cured people will laugh at the 'stone age' illnesses this president tried to afflict them with.

[theorist]

4. I'm looking for something else, but this is interesting reading.

From the text:


As Dr. Blackburn herself has pointed out, she was one of only three full-time biomedical scientists on the panel, which, even prior to her dismissal, was weighted heavily to nonscientists with strong ideological views. While no one disputes that nonscientists should play an important role on a bioethics panel, it is equally important that scientists, with strong biomedical expertise, provide the necessary scientific context for the panel.

The administration has claimed that politics played no role in Dr. Blackburn’s dismissal, but in the wake of Dr. Blackburn's firing, some researchers signed an open letter to President Bush protesting the decision. Dr. Janet Rowley, Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine and Molecular Genetics at the University of Chicago and current member of the Bioethics Council, has characterized Dr. Blackburn's dismissal as "an important example of the absolutely destructive practices of the Bush administration."


I'll post more as I find it, unless someone beats me there. :)

Edit: forgot the link. It goes to an archived article on the Union of Concerned Scientists website.

[theorist]

5. "Scientific Integrity in Policymaking"

There are some pdf's here that outline the Bush administrations use of ideology and electoral politics in science policy. If you haven't read it, yet, I highly recommend it.

It touches on a lot of the facts that debunk claims of "support" by the administration. Also, if you know anything about the way basic science research is conducted, you probably realize that a ban on federal funding is as good as a full-out ban. It's practically a corporate giveaway, if said corporations could actually get something to work....

edit: fixed link; I'll try to find some better stuff particular to embryonic stem cell research.

[genius]

6. Shrub cut the funding and now they are destroying stem cells

Contact Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine on Monday and ask for a full rundown. Their professors have done a lot of speaking out against Bush on this issue.

[theorist]

7. Stem Cell Primer by Prof. Scott Gilbert, Swarthmore College

This is exactly what you're looking for. It looks legitimate, but I'd check some of references, as I haven't looked the whole thing over. Notable passage:

Many of these lines are thought to be at the limits of their totipotency, Bioethicist Arthur Caplan has called president Bush's policy against using new lines "a ban," and he points out that the restrictions on federal funds for scientists to make new stem cell lines could mean that the only scientists in America who could do human embryonic stem cell research would be those funded by corporations. Thus, "embryonic stem cell research will become a business without regulation or accountability of any sort."