Free Stem Cells

March 3, 2004 1:11 PM

Free stem cells! A Harvard scientist using private money has developed 17 new batches of human embryonic stem cells, which he's offering to any researcher who needs them for the cost of shipping. Perhaps this will help American scientists from losing the edge (unless, as some speculate, Bush is preparing to outlaw it.) Harvard is also developing a multimillion-dollar center to grow and study stem cells.
posted by homunculus (17 comments total)

Doug Melton should get a Prize. Bush and the government should really be ashamed at themselves for pandering to the religious right with such an important and obviously immoral decision. (I'm referring to Bush's previous action, not the one speculated.) It's as if he removed Federal funding from medicine because only God can make you better.
posted by callmejay at 1:28 PM on March 3, 2004

(geesh, sorry about the grammar.)
posted by callmejay at 1:30 PM on March 3, 2004

I invested heavily in stem cells, then Bush got elected. Long story short: ABB!
posted by crazy finger at 1:30 PM on March 3, 2004

I'm no scientist, science has never been my strong suit, but I'm really upset that stem cell research and other research is being restricted in this country. All this talk about outsourcing of jobs needs to be woven with a lack of regard for research and development in science in the US, we are falling behind the rest of the world, and this ain't good.
posted by jbou at 1:33 PM on March 3, 2004

I didnt know Stem Cells was imprisoned. I've never even heard of the guy.
posted by Peter H at 1:39 PM on March 3, 2004

And also in news related to the War Against Society's Last Thirty Years of Maturity: President Bush has announced his plan to select Dr. W. David Hager to head up the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee. Dr. Hager is a practicing OB/GYN who describes himself as "pro-life" and refuses to prescribe contraceptives to unmarried women.
posted by xmutex at 1:43 PM on March 3, 2004

XQUZYPHYR - I couldn't sell even if I wanted to! Praise the second god!
posted by crazy finger at 2:01 PM on March 3, 2004

When is the constitutional amendment against science coming?
posted by substrate at 2:05 PM on March 3, 2004

Leon Kass: We Don't Play Politics With Science

Ronald Bailey: Leon Kass Learns to Spin
posted by homunculus at 2:31 PM on March 3, 2004

It's as if he removed Federal funding from medicine because only God can make you better.

It's almost as if some people believe there's no other ethical concerns besides "God Hates Stem Cells" out there.
posted by namespan at 3:43 PM on March 3, 2004

Praise the second god!

Second? Infidels! There is no God but Market, and profit is his... well, um, yeah.
posted by weston at 3:53 PM on March 3, 2004

Stem cells remind me of sourdough.
posted by staggernation at 6:55 PM on March 3, 2004

It's almost as if some people believe there's no other ethical concerns besides "God Hates Stem Cells" out there.

Have you noticed that most of those concerns are held by people who coincidentally think God's against stem cell research? I'm sure there are people who don't have religious issues but do have ethical ones, but I'd bet it's a small number.
posted by callmejay at 7:16 PM on March 3, 2004

Free stem cells ?.......

Me! Me!

I'll just graft them onto my dog, for storage, until I figure out what I can do with them .
posted by troutfishing at 8:16 PM on March 3, 2004

The really funny thing is some of these people are against stem cells, but then they go to an in-vitro fertilization clinic that creates then never uses many more embryos than scientists have.
posted by Iax at 8:22 PM on March 3, 2004

Even funnier is that Bush praises those clinics.
posted by homunculus at 8:38 PM on March 3, 2004

A 'Full Range' of Bioethical Views Just Got Narrower
posted by homunculus at 1:02 PM on March 8, 2004