" If there were anything of value in this research, the research companies could fund it themselves"
Exactly how many companies do you know of which are willing to do research which may lead to a product in 30 to 40 years? A 10 to 20 year timeframe for the investment to pay back is about the most any company will ever consider. 30 to 40? Get real.
This is a moral argument and a moral argument only. Arguing that there is no promise in ESC research based on lack of private funding is ludicrous. How many private companies provided funding for adult stem cell research in the 1960s?
That's what I said. I think it is worth raising the point that adult stem cells have been proven to have medical uses, and fetal stem cells have not, even though the latter have been more heavily funded and every left-winger in academia is eager to push it.
But as I said, even if there were some medical value to fetal stem cell research, it should be banned as immoral. Human beings are not utilitarian objects to be killed, used up, and thrown away. This fetal stem cell business always makes me think of the Nazis who wanted to make lampshades out of the skins of Jews killed in the death camps. Possibly they would have made very good lampshades, durable and useful, but that's really not the point, is it? The very idea should make people want to throw up.
"Exactly how many companies do you know of which are willing to do research which may lead to a product in 30 to 40 years?"
Just about every major pharmaceudical company that exists.
Do you really think the drugs that are coming out today had research started in the last 10 to 20 years?