Actually the converse is true. The private sector doesn't support basic research, research primarily for knowledge vs. immediate application, as much as the government does because the payoff is too far down the road. The problem is without government funding the government has little say in directing the research. Its better to address the ethical concerns by controlling the funding rather than leaving it private groups that won't be bound by NIH guidelines.
Update: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aSX77VI5ZvVc&refer=home Looks like they were finally able to do it. Debate might be over. Looks like a win for everyone. Michael J Fox will be restored, lives saved. Everyone give someone across the aisle a nice big hug.
This changes nothing. All of you cell-lovers can suck it still no matter what. Now I need more blastocysts to top off my latte.
Read the article. They got the skin cells from baby foreskins. Might as well chop up a living breathing newborn weiner than to disrupt america's love affair with a clump of cells.
This is potentially very good news but too early to say that embryonic stem cells will not be needed for treatment. Even the discoverers of this technique say that embryonic stem cell research is still needed: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21886974/
I hope you've set up your posts as an auto-reply function. I hate to actually envision a human being sitting and typing the exact same post, over and over, in every thread. ... Serious question: did you have some sort of head injury while you were away? If you want to talk about the political history of this issue, I guess we could waste the cross-aisle opportunity and go there. It ain't pretty, and there's no crow to be consumed, as we've lost a lot of good scientists who got fed up with the federal policies and moved elsewhere.
