Saturday, March 7, 2009
I Spy With My Little Eye
It sounds like there will be plenty of scientists going back to work now that President Obama has lifted the Bush administration's restrictions on federal funding of stem cell research. Well now that is a very good thing in my opinion. Let's keep in mind that the research on the stem cell lines did not entirely stop though it was hampered by restrictions on the use of public funding for research. Now this does not mean that scientists will create embryo's to destroy them to create a new line of stem cells but rather will be permitted to use embroy's which would otherwise be destroyed or thrown away to extract stem cells and thus create new cell lines. To that I would ask: is it less objectionable to destroy the embryo without removing cells? In my mind the answer is no: to destroy it or to forever permit it to remain in a state of frozen limbo are far worse than using cells from it to research potential cures for severe and debilitating injury and disease. Of course, one could debate the morality of the creation of the embroy's in the first place and whether or not that alone is playing "God", but I'll leave that for another day. But till then, I take hope and comfort seeing that though we are in a debilitating economic crisis courtesy of the past 2 administrations, there is light on the horizon.
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17 comments:
HOPE....don'tcha just love the smell of it?
Just 45 little days in office and already some sanity is being restored.
Just think of what breakthroughs can be found in four years of research. Imagine what one of those breakthroughs could have done for someone like Christopher Reeve...and how many we've already lost while waiting for science to be ALLOWED to find answers to help them.
Amen to that.
HOPE-FAITH. I look forward to a future where there may be both.
Thanks Gin, I've always felt very strong about this issue.
I thought about Christopher Reeve too. If only he were still here to see this decision being made.
Hope for so many people who suffer dreadful hardship and pain.
As someone who has family members suffering from muscular diseases, I could not understand why people wouldn't be for researching on something that was going to be destroyed anyway. It's far better to use it for good, than to see it in the trash. After all, aren't we supposed to be recycling?! There are programs for donating eggs & sperm--why can't a donation program be set up for research purposes of embryos as well? It could be regulated just as easily.
Great job Gin. It's nice to see some intelligent, thought provoking posts.
People have issues with this, and yet doctors are allowd to implant a women with multiple embryos, when they should definitly not be allowd to have any more children. Sorry, I just saw "Octo-mom" on TV, that whole situation pisses me off, I started going on a little rant.....
If regulated well, this can be a very good thing, for everyone. It's amazing what they can do know.
I pray that they will still be looking for and funding alternative research. I was watching a news report and one of the researchers stated that he doesn't believe using stem cells will help a paralyzed person walk again. I believe even stating that it could will give people false hope.
I agree that using aborted fetuses, that would have been destroyed, is far better than creating life for use in research.
Maybe the proposed research for swine odor and lobsters in the new budget bill will help people sooner than the stem cell research. ; )
Embryonic research has been going on all along, but now the funding source has changed. Tax payers are just going to be forced to pay for it like everything else, and most likely abortions are going to be encouraged. That is the only thing that has changed. Please do your research. Government controlled science doesn't automatically lead to better science.
Karen, there's a huge difference between government controlled science and government prohibited science. As a result of the Bush administration policies, federally funded stem cell research (which never stopped you are correct) was limited to cell lines derived prior to August 9, 2001. Scientists wishing to pursue stem cell research relied solely upon private funding or older cell lines. As for who pays for it, I'm happy when my tax dollars are used for the purpose of trying to eradicate or deadly and debilitating diseases. Conversely, I am very unhappy when issues of morality stand in the way of scientific progress.
^^Well said, Gin!
I don't see why scientists can't be regulated like everything else. We had quite a few conversations about this today & I think that most people are more worried about the possible ethical & moral issues. I know that people are worried about "cloning" people & things like that, but I don't see why research couldn't be regulated. The government regulates freaking everything else, so why not this as well?! lol. I think that the good it can do, could outweigh alot of the bad. I think that no matter what happens, there are always going to be some rogue scientists out there, but at least there might be a little more control somewhere. I think that the stem cell research surface is only being scratched for what they could possibly do.
You know....Bush isn't the Anti Christ here. He put policies in place and stood firmly behind them and I respect a man who stands behind his word. As for sanity being restored, Nay, I respectfully disagree with you. I am not seeing any hope. You don't spend your way out of a deficit and you don't shore up industries and banks who gambled and lost in the subprime mess. No one bails you or me out if we gamble and lose. The BofAs and the Wachovias of this country are going to hell in a handbasket but my local credit union is doing just dandy thank you and why? Because they didn't get involved in the subprime mortgage mess. Because they didn't loan money out on ARMS or Adjustable Rate Mortgages because they know you've got better odds in Vegas than betting on the interest rate and where it will head.
If the auto industry wants Stinkulus money, then they can use that money to retool and start concentrating on making vehicles for public transportation and light rail and get states like the one I live in off of the oil boob and start connecting towns to cities by a superior bus and light rail system. (Holy run on sentences!) Oh and give states Federal Stinkulus money to promote recycling instead of asking people to pay to recycle. Let Big Bank and Big Auto hit the skids if they can't manage money any better.
Pink, what do you mean, PAY people to recycle?
Pink, I agree with you on quite a few of your comments. When the banks started lending out money to anyone, I was one of those that could have gotten into the whole mess. I chose not to get into a house at that time, not because they weren't dangling some pretty nice carrots in front of my nose, but because I knew that I couldn't afford to do it. Now, I thank the one time I used some of the sense I own!! I know too many people around me who are losing homes & jobs, & as much as I really don't like mine, I'm still thankful I have one. Both my bro-in-laws are having a hard time finding one, as companies around here are either closing down or just not hiring. It's kind of hard to see a silver lining, & I really hope that one shows up soon. I'm on the bandwagon where I don't feel that we should be handing out the money that we have. There's no accountability for the money, and none of the companies seem to be learning a lesson from this whole fiasco. I find it really hard to sympathize with a CEO who is only getting a million dollar bonus, instead of the 4 or 5 million they would normally get, when their employees are getting let go. I also am a little discouraged that people who flagrantly disregard laws are being allowed to take such high positions in the government. I still am in shock & awe that our new Treasury Secretary didn't pay his taxes, due to a "mistake". Yet if you or I made the same "mistake", we'd either be living on the street because the IRS had taken all our assets, or in jail. My dad does taxes for a living, & has seen some of his clients hounded for as little as a dollar!!!
Sorry to go off on my soapbox like that, but I can tend to get a little riled up pretty easy when it comes to stuff like this!! Feel free to take me to task on anything I've said, & I promise not to get offended!!! :)
Kitty Kat, Not pay people TO recycle but not require people to pay for recycling.
Where I live, if I want to recycle, I have to pay to have someone pick it up. In Oregon and Washington states,recycling is MANDATORY. In Oregon, you get this little bitty trash can just a little bigger thant the size of an ordinary kitchen trash can and that's for your kitchen waste that cannot be recycled. You get two huge drums one for regular recycling and one for your clean green.
Here, we get two huge drums just for trash. If we want to sort out recyclables, we have to pay for a service to pick it up. In King County (Seattle, Wa area), if your trash comprises more than 25% recyclable material, you get cited once, fined the second time.
Right on Jenn.
Pink, that's too bad that your hometown isn't more recycling friendly. I live in a city which is really actively trying to encourage recycling and discourage solid waster by limiting us to one barrel of garbage in a trial neighborhood. I'm doing this voluntarily and it is amazing just how much can be sorted out for recycling with just a little effort, and it's really quite satisfying to see my garbage down to one small barrel. Hopefully your community will catch on and though I'm a fiscal conservative liberal humanist, I'd support government incentives to inspire communities such as yours to engage in aggressive recycling. What would you think of that?
I am all for government incentives towards recycling. We waste so damn much as a country on the whole. We really need to learn to get over ourselves, learn to make do with what we have, stop trying to keep up with the Joneses, get off our fat asses and lose some weight, drive less, spend less and think about our environment more.
There are tons upon tons of trash that can be recycled every day. Although I was not alive during the Depression or WWII, I have studied the eras and one thing hit home: Use it up and Wear it out. Why can't we do the same? All of us. Old people, young people, high school snotheads... why can't we learn to make do with what we have and recycle the rest?
I realize that it's Keen to be Green but this isn't just a friggin' fad. Leonardo DiCaprio and Hollywood STILL can't explain to me exactly how the Oscars "Went Green" the year they licked Al Gore's boots clean. You're not green just by saying so. Being Green is not a fad. It's a lifestyle change.
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