Posted on 03/19/2007 6:27:12 PM PDT by neverdem
Associated Press
Lifting the ban on taxpayer funding of research on new stem cells from fertilized embryos would better serve both science and the nation, the chief of the National Institutes of Health told lawmakers Monday.
Allowing the ban to remain in place, Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni told a Senate panel, leaves his agency fighting "with one hand tied behind our back."
"It is clear today that American science will be better served — the nation will be better served — if we allow our scientists to have access to more cell lines," Zerhouni told two members of the Senate health appropriations subcommittee during a hearing on the NIH's proposed 2008 budget. The NIH, with a nearly $29 billion annual budget, is the main federal agency that conducts and funds medical research.
Zerhouni's comments appear to be his strongest yet in support of lifting President Bush's 2001 ban that restricted government funding to research using only embryonic stem cell lines then in existence. There are just 21 such lines now in use.
Bush issued the first and so far only veto of his presidency last year when he killed legislation that would have expanded federal funding of stem-cell research. In January, the House passed a revived proposal.
Stem cells are created in the first days after conception and typically are culled from frozen embryos, destroying them in the process. Because they go on to form the body's tissues and cells — Zerhouni called them "software of life" — scientists say they could unlock the mystery of many diseases and one day lead to cures.
Sen. Tom Harkin (news, bio, voting record), D-Iowa, said contamination of the 21 embryonic lines available under the ban make it unlikely they ever will be used in treating humans.
Zerhouni, in answering questions from Harkin and Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record), R-Pa., the only subcommittee members present for his testimony, said the limited number of cell lines aren't sufficient to do needed research.
"We cannot, I do not think, be second best in this area," Zerhouni told the two, both ardent supporters of stem-cell research. He later said other countries, including China and India, are increasing their spending on overall medical research.
Congress doubled the NIH's budget between 1998 and 2003, but it's remained essentially flat since then, when adjusted for inflation.
On the Net:
National Institutes of Health: http://www.nih.gov/
You talk like that guy from California who wrote the book, "Fun with Taxpayer Dollars."
Nice job changing the subject from embryos to space shuttles though.
What this guy wants is for money to be given to people who have ni idea of whgat they are doing but know how to write applications for federal money. They know that with the federal government, results don't matter.
The space space program was for the engineering, The science was already known. If this kind of long-term approach worked, we would already have a cure for cancer. What you are advocating is a classic case of a pig in a poke. a Process driven by guys looking for grant money.
Back in the nineties, when the democraps control the Senate, it was Dungheap Harkin as Chairman and Soulless Specter as his republican lapdog who took testimony on the appropriations committee reagrding funding for this cannibalism ... and Specter was 100% servant to Harkin's directives.
> There is no ban on embryonic stem cell research!
>
> Just government funding!
And therein lies a warning, for all who would see, against accepting money for "faith based initiatives" from the government.
Once you take their money, they write the rules.
Bull! These morons have no idea what the hell they're doing and it's just sinking millions of dollars down a snake oil rathole.
Science through false hope.
Stem cell research is the most prominent research area that has had a recent history of well-publicized fraud. The more fraud, the more money they get.
Bull! These morons have no idea what the hell they're doing and it's just sinking millions of dollars down a snake oil rathole.
Science through false hope.
Stem cell research is the most prominent research area that has had a recent history of well-publicized fraud. The more fraud, the more money they get.
Sorry, but this thing really has me cheesed off.
Pure bovine scat ... when the research cannibals start doing their research using only other species embryos for their harvesting of body parts (the embryo's stem cells) then the government MIGHT consider aiding in research funding. Until then, if there is great promise for breakthroughs (using embryonic stem cells from embryos) and thus great profits in the cures, private funding would drown these bastards in money.
Are you a researcher? I am.
Agreed. This isn't highly theoretical physics. This is stuff that's supposed to have direct, applicable results. That's the appeal. But if it did, companies would be sinking billions in it.
Here's the bigger secret: Academic research is, by definition, public. You can't withhold it from the world. So if we pay for it, the whole world uses it.
If the EU pays for it, we use it too.
Time for the rest of the world to chip in.
Yeah, but it doesn't have to be massive. NASA has to be massive. Bio research can be small. Very small.
Just like human genome project was small, which it was not. The private companies jumped in in the middle of it, when they got an idea which way the wind was blowing, and were reasonably assured of getting the results. Fundamental research stopped being small many years ago. And small scale research is small, and strictly applied in nature.
What about those private pharma companies that seem to be able to afford research on non-embryonic stem cell research?
Is that somehow cheaper?
But don't you see? This isn't fundamental research, this is stuff that's going to make Christopher Reeve get up from the dead and walk.
Because if it's fundamental research, then it's like finding a new quark or doing PDE's on a new manifold.
Except, you know, for the fraud. Have I mentioned the fraud? Surely, I've mentioned the fraud.
I spend two+ decades in the pharmaceutical industry. I'm a writer now. Is yours private or taxpayer funded research?
yes. it is somewhat easier, and thus works faster [but works worse] - which is the distiillation of an answer to this very question from my biologist co-workers. shorter time frame could be justified in corporate budgeting.
Private. And in what capacity did you spend those decades, may I ask?
And your point is?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.