I suppose it’s always good to maintain a sense of humor, no matter how unfunny something really is (like creating and killing tiny human beings in the name of science and making taxpayers fund it):
h/t Rebecca Taylor
I suppose it’s always good to maintain a sense of humor, no matter how unfunny something really is (like creating and killing tiny human beings in the name of science and making taxpayers fund it):
h/t Rebecca Taylor
3 Comments on ““Crazy Pete’s Embryonic Stem Cell Emporium!””
Did it ever occur to people that reason venture capitalists are not willing to fund embryonic research is due to the fact that the Christian Right is trying to pass legislation to outlaw it? No one knows how powerful this research can be due to the fact that the previous administration fought so hard to eliminate it. I realize that federal funding is at issue here, but the fear of making it outright illegal is what scares venture capitalists, and fear combined with investing is not a good combination.
First of all, ESCR has been around for over 25 years, so it is far from the Bush administration’s fault that it hasn’t performed well. The federal government currently spends over $100 million to fund ESCR. Also, though Bush vetoed to measures to expand the amt. of money the fed. gov’t already spends on ESCR, he and his administration did absolutely nothing to try to eliminate the research itself. There has never been any federal legislation introduced to make ESCR illegal and, to my knowledge there hasn’t been any on a state level either. There have been measures to ban human cloning, some states have moved to ban state funding of ESCR, but there’s been absolutely no direct challenges to ESCR in general.
That being said…good, I’m glad, they should be afraid of funding research that destroys tiny human lives in the process. Because, even if it were to someday be proven to work as wonderfully as scientists hope, it’s still unethical, period and its advancement is not progress, but a threat for man and for the world.
That really isn’t the point, yes, the government has not passed laws making ESCR illegal, however, the threat is always there due to the policies of the Republicans. This is why VCs are unwilling to invest in ESCR. Add to that states that may ban state funding, and you can clearly see why no company is comfortable investing. Maybe with Obama in office, VCs will be more willing to invest (Hopefully), however, it is unclear at this time if his reversal of the Bush policy will reap the benefits. Add to the that the protests and violence of the religious right (See Tiller), and it is understandable why companies that show so much promise are left to scramble. Oh the irony.