Mar 14 2009
Screwing Up In Reverse
If Obama must screw up, can he do it more in this direction than the one he tends to head in:
On Wednesday, only two days after he lifted President Bush’s executive order banning federal funding of stem cell research that requires the destruction of human embryos, President Barack Obama signed a law that explicilty bans federal funding of any “research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death.”
The provision was buried in the 465-page omnibus appropriations bill that Obama signed Wednesday. Known as the Dickey-Wicker amendment, it has been included in the annual appropriations bill for the Department of Health and Human Services every fiscal year since 1996.
The amendment says, in part: “None of the funds made available in this Act may be used for—(1) the creation of a human embryo or embryos for research purposes; or (2) research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death.”
Well, at least it’s a screw up in the right direction. For the record, embryonic research has been a proven failure. Nothing but cancerous growths have come of it, while now we can generate endless amounts of stem cells from human skin – which are basically identical to embryonic stem cells. Human skin is the one organ that can be grown and harvested continuously. With a basically endless supply of human skin, we have plenty of stem cells.
But the real success stories are in the Adult Stem cell field which has numerous therapies out already (just scan through the posts). Embryos – none. We don’t need to slaughter young human beings for spare parts.
Addendum: It is my understand that the legislation trumps any Executive Order, so the ban is still in place.
Common scientific “theory” /argument by proponents of the use of embryos for stem cell research is that “adult” stem cells do not have the plasticity of embryonic stem cells because they a) have already been genetically formed/advanced more so than embryonic cells and b) reprogramming them to other types (ie., plasticity) causes cell mutations (like cancers).
From what little I know from the testing they have done with embryonic cells, they “also” have the same problems of cell mutations regarding plasticity. Further, I’ve not seen any evidence, other than theory, that these cells have some advantage in that regard. I remain open to such evidence…but it will take more than argument.
Lastly, this issue seems to follow the same disturbing trend of well organized and coordinated misinformation at the highest levels that other “pet” liberal causes take. That means being “on message”. Part of that message apparently is that “embryos” are not fertilized eggs containing DNA of both a mother and father that is beyond zygote stage and has the potential if taken to term of becoming a human being.
Here is our former Pres. Clinton, with Dr. Gupta asserting no less than 6 times that embryonic stem cell research is only done with eggs that have not been fertilized which have no potential to become human beings. Gupta sets him up, and never corrects him.
From CNN: :Larry King Live Stem Cell Research
Interview with Bill Clinton (Dr. Gupta)
Gupta: Let’s talk about something you talked a lot about in the early part of your presidency, stem cells. There was an order today providing federal money for embryonic stem cell research. First of all, let me just ask you, as someone who studied this, is this going to always be as divisive an issue as it is now? Is this going to be the abortion of the next generation? Or are people going to come around?
Clinton: I think – the answer is I think that we’ll work it through. If – particularly if it’s done right. If it’s obvious that we’re not taking embryos that can – that under any conceivable scenario would be used for a process that would allow them to be fertilized and become little babies, and I think if it’s obvious that we’re not talking about some science fiction cloning of human beings, then I think the American people will support this….
Gupta: Any reservations?
Clinton: I don’t know that I have any reservations, but I was – he has apparently decided to leave to the relevant professional committees the definition of which frozen embryos are basically going to be discarded, because they’re not going to be fertilized. I believe the American people believe it’s a pro-life decision to use an embryo that’s frozen and never going to be fertilized for embryonic stem cell research….
But those committees need to be really careful to make sure if they don’t want a big storm to be stirred up here, that any of the embryos that are used clearly have been placed beyond the pale of being fertilized before their use. There are a large number of embryos that we know are never going to be fertilized, where the people who are in control of them have made that clear. The research ought to be confined to those….
But there are values involved that we all ought to feel free to discuss in all scientific research. And that is the one thing that I think these committees need to make it clear that they’re not going to fool with any embryos where there’s any possibility, even if it’s somewhat remote, that they could be fertilized and become human beings.
I guess I should also state the obvious, that our former president Clinton “also” does not know what ‘sex’ is. So, given that, he may not fully understand how people get pregnant and what that means.
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So, the smartest man ever to reside at the White House knew that his grandstanding was all about appealing to the leftist can’t-kill-’em-fast-enough crowd and nothing of substance really changed.
I like post-partisan America.
Maybe we could slip a line in the next bill making Rush president and and making President Pinnochio a wooden puppet instead of a real boy.