Stem Cells

Korean clones and Veto Pens. Who will be the leader in stem cell technology?With the recent news on about Korea and stem cells the topic has resurfaced as being something important to the population. Of course, our great leader is vowing to veto any attempt to change his restrictions on funding of stem cell research.

Poll: Where do you think stem cell research will really take off and why?
a) United States
b) South Korea
c) China
d) Japan
e) European Union

6 Responses to “Stem Cells”

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Yeah, I was just talking about this earlier today. Thanks for bringing it up on the website. The US is shooting itself in the foot research-wise, and by so-doing, letting people with potentially curable injuries suffer. Go us!

That said, the EU is even more freaky about bio-ethics than the US in many ways– witness their protests over GM food which americans happily scarf everyday. No great cures will come from them, either.

The East, however, is in a boom phase of expansion, and their cultures place more value on the greater good over the individual, typically. This means more drive for risky ventures with big payoffs, and more readiness for human testing. They’ll develop the tech… and thank goodness. Someone needs to do it.

Paradoxdruid - May 20th, 2005 at 12:58 pm

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Singapore! It ain’t just for canings any more.

Owen - May 20th, 2005 at 4:34 pm

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As things stand right now, I agree with Druid. The East will take off in the lead. However, our illustrious moron of a president won’t always be in office. And the US does have a way of getting angry if somebody looks like they’re going to be better than us. The East will make some breakthroughs and then, hopefully, the US will get jealous and change its policy.

Also, personal tragedy has a way of changing minds. Orin Hatch, for example, used to opposed stem research until his grand-daughter got very ill. Now he’s for it. Get enough of that going in with the Republicans, and things will change.

ShortSpeedFreak - May 22nd, 2005 at 2:08 pm

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So basically, you’re advocating a campaign of causing illness in the families of prominent Republicans? Be careful, they might be listening… 😉

Seriously, though, you do make a good point. America does have a tremendous innovation pool, and if we seriously start lagging, efforts to correct that will likely begin.

Paradoxdruid - May 22nd, 2005 at 9:57 pm

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Did y’all hear that the Koreans are successfully producing viable stem-cells from 1 out of 17 eggs? Fucking sweet. We need to start a co-op, or corporation, or something such economic entity that funds/runs/profits from creating and storing stem cell lines for their clients… especially a stem cell line of “Josh Cells”!!! MUHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
-J “larval liche” Wilco

Josh - June 21st, 2005 at 6:50 pm

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For those of you wanting more details/support of Josh’s news splurt, National Geographic has a nice, recent article, “Stem Cell Research: Moving Forward Despite Obstacles,”:http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0507/feature1/online_extra.html which gives the same stat. And, some interesting political commentary/tie-ins from the article:

“On the political front, the U.S. House of Representatives made history by passing the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005, which would loosen the restrictions on federal funding of stem cell research imposed by President George W. Bush in August 2001. The 238-to-194 vote included 50 Republicans, despite Bush’s threat a few days earlier that he would veto the bill if it came to his desk. Now it is up to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a surgeon, to decide if and when he will bring the identically worded Senate version of the bill to the floor for a vote. Last year, 58 senators signed a letter to Bush asking that he loosen his rules, which indicates there is an excellent chance the Senate would pass the bill. As of this writing, a veto by Bush would be the first of his presidency and it remains unclear if Congress has enough votes to override.”

Sometimes I get the feeling that Bush does things (or will do things, as the case may unfortunately be) just to keep up his reputation as the Texas cowboy with the biggest balls… It seems like this blurb (unnervingly) agrees with that sentiment too.

Teisha - June 21st, 2005 at 7:06 pm

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