Heard about stem cells lately?
Probably not, since mainstream media haven’t talked about the issue since….oh….President Bush’s protection press conference with the snowflake children? (Okay, maybe there’s been a thing or two since then.)
But there’s a lot you’re not hearing.
Though the debate over federal funding of embryonic stem cell research isn’t as hot of a political topic in this presidential election, part of the reason could be the enormous success of adult stem cells. While embryonic cells still haven’t helped a single patient, adult stem cells continue to perform miracles.
Yet another story of moral/ethical importance not covered by the media.
Like the news carried in the current issue of Nature about the discovery that some researchers using embryonic stem cells aren’t getting consent to do so.
Stanford University is to tell its researchers that around one-quarter of the human embryonic stem-cell lines eligible for US government funding are now off-limits because of ethics concerns.
Good to hear a public, academic argument about ethical concerns.
The concerns follow an analysis by bioethicist Robert Streiffer of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who obtained copies of the informed consent forms given to donors of the 21 lines that have been approved for federal research funding by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). Streiffer compared these forms with guidelines set by the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS). None of the forms met the guidelines exactly, he concluded, and some deviated egregiously…
And so the debate has been engaged.
Meanwhile, this researcher is still making news.
Embattled scientist Hwang Woo-suk, who became an international embarrassment after he admitted to faking his embryonic stem cell research, has been hoping to re-enter the field for years. South Korea officials will decide later this week if he can do so.
What?! Seriously?
Hwang still faces potential jail time as a result of allegations of widespread embezzlement of public and private research funds.
The scientist is banned from using human eggs in any research and has been engaged in animal cloning at the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation. That’s the company that is teaming up with a California firm to sell cloned dogs.
This is a true story.
In December, that company asked for permission from the country’s government to proceed with an new embryonic stem cell research project that uses “aborted human eggs.”
It that’s not a clue…
An unnamed health ministry official told AFP that, “We will make a decision on the request this week, probably on Saturday, after taking various factors into consideration.”
Like…what exactly could justify this even reaching that point? Profit?
