Les Jones: Quick History of US Stem Cell Research Policy

May 25, 2005

Science > Quick History of US Stem Cell Research Policy

From Ramesh Ponnuru's article at the Hoover Institution:

President Bush inherited a no-funding policy and a proposal to allow funding. After several months of public debate on what to do, on August 9, 2001, he announced his decision. In an address to the nation, he said that he would fund research only on stem cells that had been taken from embryos before that date. The federal government would not encourage researchers to destroy more human embryos by providing them with funding. But it would not ban them from doing so either. And it would allow funding to proceed in cases where the embryos had already been destroyed before the policy was announced. It would also provide funding for research on stem cells taken from other sources�from adult somatic cells, from umbilical cord blood, from any source that did not involve the destruction of human embryos.

Democrats like to talk about the Bush "ban" on stem cell research, when in reality Bush liberalized Clinton-era stem cell research policies.

Posted by lesjones

Comments

I have spoken with Bush supporters who thought he had banned stem cell research.

Posted by: Thibodeaux at May 25, 2005

Just to clarify, that would be pro-stem-cell-research Bush supporters, not those icky Fundamentalist Anti-Science Bush supporters.

Posted by: Thibodeaux at May 25, 2005

The misinformation on this issue has been incredible.

I would like to see more stem cell research. However, a substancial portion of the population does feel that destroying an embryo is immoral, and I am willing to compromise to a degree to reflect this fact.

If the press spent as much time talking about the actual merits and what is destroyed as they do protraying those with strong right to life ethics as knuckle dragging barbarians this issue would be easier to resolve.

Posted by: Dave Justus at May 25, 2005