Chris Mooney comments on short memories and shallow journalism in mainstream science reporting, as personified by a Washington Post discussion of bad stem cell legislation in this case.
I'm glad that the Post now favors freeing up more lines for research. But notice how the paper's editorial page conspicuously avoids discussing the central reason that the Bush policy failed: There were never nearly as many lines available for research as the president promised....
Yes, that's right: All the essential problems with Bush's policy were apparent within a month of its announcement. The Post should have been courageous enough to say that this policy failure was inherent from the get-go.
Sadly, all this argument over 10, 20 or 60 stem cell lines obscures the fact that thousands of lines will likely be needed for research into regenerative and stem cell medicine to proceed effectively across the board - i.e. important work to cure heart disease, neurodegenerative conditions, diabetes, nerve, muscle and bone damage, and many other age-related conditions is on hold or proceeding very slowly until this is resolved. I have discussed this matter in a previous post here at Fight Aging!