Posted on 10/31/2006 1:22:11 PM PST by Fighting Irish
Billionaire cash has kept embryonic stem-cell research alive--just barely.
Anti-abortion crusaders see research on embryonic stem cells as something akin to murder. Eli Broad sees it as a great way to save lives--and he is tapping his $6 billion fortune to help. Sidestepping the ban on federal funding of most stem-cell experiments imposed by President Bush five years ago, Broad, the founder of builder KB Home, gave $25 million in February to the University of Southern California to erect a stem-cell building.
More gifts may loom, he hints. Broad says he is saddened by the Bush Administration's stem-cell ban, which has constrained funding, forced universities to set up redundant labs off-site and let Singapore, Australia and Europe pull ahead of the U.S. in one of the most exciting new fields for fighting disease. "The promise is great," he says.
Embryonic stem cells are nascent bits of unformed genetic potential that later turn into cells that make up the brain, the heart, blood and bone and every other kind of cell in the body. One day researchers hope to turn stem cells into versatile scientific tools to repair damage at the root of Parkinson's disease, Lou Gehrig's disease and other maladies; the stem cells also could help develop drugs and test medicines for dangerous side effects.
But creating a stem cell requires destroying embryos when they are five-day-old balls of a hundred cells, such as fertilized eggs discarded after an in vitro fertilization. The embryo defenders say each of these microscopic balls is a human life that shouldn't be wasted. They argue that using adult stem cells culled from patients would suffice, though many biologists disagree.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
So let Broad go ahead and pay for it himself. He can afford it, and taxpayers can't, moral considerations aside, of course.
There is really a lot of misinformation going on out there about Stem Cell Research. For example, Bush is banning the Federal Funding of embryonic stem cell research. I don't believe that he has called for banning the research, just the funding. However, if he had his way, he would probably ban it as well. Have I got this right or am I wrong?
"Broad says he is saddened by the Bush Administration's stem-cell ban, which has constrained funding, forced universities to set up redundant labs off-site and let Singapore, Australia and Europe pull ahead of the U.S. in one of the most exciting new fields for fighting disease. "The promise is great," he says."
First off. Nothing is stopping people like Broad from giving as much money as they want to fund it. Just don't expect the 'taxpayer' to do it.
Secondly "The promise is great", but the "results are lacking".
Adult stem cells show much more promise than Embryonic ever will. Unless your goal is to invent a new form of cancer.
"So let Broad go ahead and pay for it himself."
He is.
Think the billio-boys will get to meet the souls of the people they gave their money to experiment on... on Judgement Day?
This is exactly how it should be done. I'm not sure one way or the other on the question of whether destroying a fertilized egg is wrong, although I do know that a lot are destroyed anyway in the process of artificial fertilization for the purpose of conception. Bush has not opposed stem cell research in any way, he has just reduced government funding of a process that many taxpayers find morally wrong.
This reminds me of Ayn Rands' response to the question of "What will happen to the poor if the government does not help them?" Answer was "Nobody will prevent you from helping them."
He gave them a lousy $25 million out of $6 billion. If he truly believes this is the savior of mankind, then he should fork over, perhaps, $5 billion. He still would have plenty to play with.
If the promise really were great, capitalists and pharmacutical companies would be investing heavily in order to reap billions in profits.
How can you 'sidestep' a ban that doesn't affect you? Kind of like 'sidestepping' the ban on underage drinking by being over the age of 21.
The accommodating cynic in me says: "Hey, why not both?"
Are there any anti-ESCR plutocrats that Forbes can profile?
Stem-cell research dates to 1981 and started out with mouse embryos,
Isn't this wrong? From the NIH: "The history of research on adult stem cells began about 40 years ago. In the 1960s, researchers discovered that the bone marrow contains at least two kinds of stem cells..."
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