October 5th, 2004
Stem Cell Politics - Endgame
As the US presidential election - and the California ballot vote - draws near, the political debate over embryonic stem cell research and therapeutic cloning enters its endgame for the year. Bioethicist Arthur Caplan summarizes and comments in an MSNBC article. While he focuses on federal funding restrictions, he does note - unlike most commentators - the much more serious matter of continued efforts to ban therapeutic cloning. Therapeutic cloning is an essential technology for much of the most promising research into regenerative medicine. Threatened anti-research legislation in the US and at the UN has scared away private funding and greatly damaged prospects for early breakthroughs in this field.