The media pundit's pundit. Written by NYC insider Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine covers news, media, journalism, and politics.
Medical modernism
: Nancy Reagan supports stem-cell research. Call it enlightened self-interest, due to her husband’s disease — or just call it enlighted.
Note also last week a hairpin turn in diabetes research as scientists find that adult stem cells are not going to help sufferers but embyronic stem cells may.
It is an election issue.
Any thoughts on whether the Reagan connection might be the doorway for Bush to revise his position on stem cell research? In no imaginary universe can I see a Bush 180, but some revised positions could take this off the table and possibly be used to paint Kerry as a ‘baby harvester’. Using Reagan as the impetus might also be enough to get some of the party-loyal behind this as well.
At very least, I’m hoping Nancy can bring Bush out of the dark ages on this, his positions are very poorly informed.
Ah yes, the Dark Ages, huh? Well, onward and forward towards the Brave New World, I guess. Adults are fragile, children are resilent. We need them to die so that we can live.
All that aside, I doubt that federal funding of this horrible stuff is necessary. There are plenty of mad scientists out there who want to create the next Frankenstein, to hold off death.
Hmm, second paragraph says:
“Several experts, however, said the new work falls far short of settling the debate over the relative merits of the two kinds of cells for medical treatments. Indeed, some said, entirely different approaches may prove curative before any stem cell therapy emerges for diabetes, which affects 16 million Americans.”
Which sort of blows your whole take all to hell.
When researchers are consistently curing diabetic mice with embryonic stem cells, and NOT getting all sort of hideous side effects, then we can talk about whether or not it’s reasonable to do this with humans.
Until then, it’s proponents are doing politics, not science.
There are so many instances where stem cell therapy works, and the rest of the world (especially Portugal) is furthering research. This holds for both cells harvested from the person in need of the procedure, and from embryonic stem cells.
Yes, Dark Ages is absolutely appropriate for this administration.
When our President practically brags about his lack of interest in anything other than war and the filtered-down soundbites his staff gives him, then we truly have entered dark ages for education, science, and leadership. Something our nation used to stand for and be proud of.
Remember JFK exhorting our schools to produce the scientist need to win the space race? What a rallying cry.
Now, we have the f-ing bible-thumpers that GWB sucks up to trying to replace evolution with creationism.
As if this country wasn’t stupid enough as it is.