In a watershed moment for one of the most contentious areas of science and American politics, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the way for the first-ever human trial of a medical treatment derived from embryonic stem cells.
Geron Corp., a Menlo Park, Calif., biotechnology company, is expected to announce Friday that it received a green light from the agency to mount a study of its stem-cell treatment for spinal cord injuries in up to 10 patients. The announcement caps more than a decade of advances in the company’s labs and comes on the cusp of a widely expected shift in U.S. policy toward support of embryonic stem-cell research after years of official opposition.
When did the US government oppose fetal stem cell research? There has been a policy of not providing public funding but that is not opposition. And of course adult stem cell research gets lost in the shuffle even though it has shown results whereas fetal stem cell research has not. And why, because its not based on science, it is based on politics.
One wonders, too, if the pressure reflects the presumption of certain sections of the scientific community that society has no right to place limits on what they do. As Lewis suggested in [i]That Hideous Strength[/i] (I suspect we’re going to be referencing that volume more and more in the years ahead), most Victorian scientists – even the agnostic ones – would not have indulged in that sort of hubris.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The debate over fetal stem cell research has very little to do with actual therapies that may come from it and mostly to do with giving the pro-abortion forces in America a way to argue that abortion is a positive benefit to society. Like saying it would be so nice to have everyone have blue eyes, so let’s write a big, fat check to Dr. Mengele tomorrow.
#3: You’re right – it’s fig leaf for abortion. What can’t be done (and better) with adult stem cells that is done with embryonic stem cells?
Speculation only, English teacher. You may note that I qualified my observation with the word “certain.” After all, there are agnostics like Nat Hentoff who are opposed to abortion. My statement was not intended to imply a universal mindset.
Sorry. That “Speculation” was meant to refer to me not you. The dangers of conversational writing.