We Would Already Be Here If Not For The Politicians

Korean scientists have pulled off the impressive next advance in stem cell and therapeutic cloning research, something that the combined US and European research communities could have accomplished several years ago, if not for the anti-research policies on both sides of the Atlantic. I commented on the research briefly at the Longevity Meme:

The Next Step in Therapeutic Cloning (Thursday February 12 2004)
As reported by Wired (and in numerous other places), Korean researchers have accomplished the next successful step in therapeutic cloning and stem cell medicine: reliably extracting stem cells from cloned human embryos. As the Wired article says, "a Korean woman now has a set of cells that could one day replace any damaged or diseased cell in her body with little worry of rejection, if researchers can get stem cells to work therapeutically." The scientists have even managed to create a new stem cell line from this work, which is very good news, given the limited number of lines currently available. A New York Times article provides a good introduction to the medical significance of this advance.

Comments

The Speculist offers a good set of commentary on this and the Leon Kass followup:

http://www.speculist.com/archives/000670.html

Chris Mooney's immediate reaction is that this is going to cause roil and trouble in politics:

http://www.chriscmooney.com/blog.asp#583

Reason
Founder, Longevity Meme

Posted by: Reason at February 12, 2004 12:51 PM

Ronald Bailey has a good line, as ever:

http://www.techcentralstation.com/021204F.html

"Nobody said that the future would be risk free, but the future also brings new opportunities to cure disease, alleviate suffering, and fend off early death. We'd be less than human not to seize those opportunities."

"But why was this scientific advance made in Korea and not the United States? ... The only American researcher listed as an author on the Science paper, Jose Cibelli, is a professor at Michigan State University, a state that criminalizes human cloning research with fines up to $10 million and jail time up to 10 years. ... Never mind the lack of federal funding for human therapeutic cloning research, what private company would invest in this research if tomorrow their researchers could be declared criminals and sent to jail?"

Posted by: Reason at February 12, 2004 3:02 PM

Wired is posting a good followup article today that goes into more detail as to why the US is falling behind: anti-research legislation, and lack of funding caused by anti-research legislation.

http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,62277,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_3

"The United States is supposed to be the most scientifically and technologically advanced country in the world. So why did South Korean scientists announce here Thursday that they were the first to develop cells that could lead to the biggest revolution medicine has ever seen?"

Posted by: Reason at February 13, 2004 1:26 PM

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