Bush Letter Sees Promise of Stem Cells..

[Tellurian]

Republican ops are reading here..

WASHINGTON, May 15 — The Bush administration has acknowledged that additional lines, or colonies, of embryonic stem cells could speed scientific research, a statement that advocates for patients say could mark the first step toward easing limits on taxpayer financing for the studies.


The acknowledgment was tucked into a carefully worded letter sent on Friday by Dr. Elias Zerhouni, the director of the National Institutes of Health, to 206 members of Congress who are pressing President Bush to alter his stem cell policy.

In the letter, Dr. Zerhouni reiterated the president's stand that tax dollars not be used to "sanction or encourage further destruction of human embryos." But he also wrote, "It is also fair to say that from a purely scientific perspective more cell lines may well speed some areas" of research.

"It's certainly not a change in policy," said Representative Michael N. Castle, Republican of Delaware, who is spearheading an effort in the House to change the president's policy. "I look upon it as an invitation to have further discussions."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/16/politics/16STEM.html?8br

[NMDemDist2]

1. dang we need a Bushit FlipFlop smilie

cuz I'd use it right here :)

[jono]

8. How about something like this?

[NMDemDist2]

10. how about if there is a "flip flop" shoe hitting him on the head?

can you do that?

[Hekate]

2. "Watch what Bush does, not what he says"

Wasn't it Anne Richardson who said that? I have a feeling that his gestures on stem cell research may end up being more Bush voodoo science, like the missile shield and the mission to Mars.

Hekate

[ant]

3. corporate welfare

Off topic, but it just kills me that so much research is taxpayer funded, only to be handed off to private companies that develop expensive drugs they then sell back to us for obscene prices.

Don't get me wrong, I support investing in science and technology and health care and the rest, but if I pay for the research that develops fancy drugs or treatments I don't understand why only private companies should end up making a profit, especially when they seem to spend more on marketing and designer drugs than on actual health.

[Eye and Monkey]

4. You're right - the pharmacorps have written the new shadow policy.

And have coached the double-talk.

[Tellurian]

5. Anyone know Kerry's position on stem cells?

I didn't see anything on the website.

[Tellurian]

6. I was testing...uh,uh...

Limits on Stem-Cell Research Re-emerge as a Political Issue

NATIONAL DESK | May 6, 2004, Thursday

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG; John M. Broder contributed reporting from Los Angeles for this article. (NYT) 1440 words
Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 1 , Column 1

ABSTRACT - Debate over embryonic stem-cell research re-emerges as election issue as patient advocates, including Nancy Reagan, press Pres Bush to loosen limits on federal financing for science; studies are controversial because they involve destruction of human embryos; Bush's policy, announced in Aug 2001, restricts research in way that does not permit embryos to be destroyed with taxpayer dollars; letter urging Bush to allow federal government to finance studies on embryos left over from in vitro fertilization clinics, which would otherwise be discarded, has been signed by 206 members of House; signers include some in Republican leadership like Rep Dana Rohrabacher, staunch opponent of abortion who has opposed such research in past; Sen Bill Frist, who was influential in persuading Bush to take up matter in summer of 2001, says policy should be reviewed; White House spokesman says Bush would not expand policy; Sen John Kerry, early proponent of embryonic stem-cell research, has been using his stump speeches to criticize Bush administration as choosing ideology over science; political candidates around country say they are hearing from constituents who want research to go forward.

You could jump on this one..Stem cell is cutting edge and should be opened for exploration.

[Tellurian]

12. Kerry could jump ahead by leaps and bounds if he brought this issue to

the forefront in his campaign speeches. So many people who have been crippled by disease and debilitating accidents like Michael J. Fox, Christoper Reeves and Ronald Reagan have been patiently waiting to at least have a chance for a cure through stem cell therapy.

Bush has been turning a deaf ear to their pleadings and requests out of fear he will lose his religious base of donor support. I imagine drug and pharmaceutical companies have been courting Bush's favor into ownership patents and exclusive rights to stem cell therapy, while theres Bush, in a heap wondering how he can sell stem cells under Halliburton's ever enlarging canopy and claim he had a revelation from God in appeasment of his holy dollars.

[delhurgo]

7. This is only a slight change in that the Bush Admin is admitting

that their policy may be holding back research. They don't even admit outright that it is or that they will change their policy. They couldn't anyhow; their policy on this issue is driven completely by politics, pandering to religious conservatives.

Using leftover embryos from invitro clinics isn't a huge issue anyhow because that is and will remain legal, just not federally funded. The real threat is with the Bush Admin's and the conservatives attempts to ban 'therapeutic cloning.' Thats where the real breakthroughs are gonna come from, and thats what they want to ban outright. This seeming 'flip-flop' is just cover to make it seem that they, the Bush Admin, are reasonable and not extremists on this issue. Its just a political smokescreen though. They know they are vulnerable on this issue, and on 'science' in general - thats what this and Bush's nutty 'man to Mars' plan is all about. Kerry needs to push this issue and not let Bush get away with misleading again.

[rebellious woman]

9. If Nancy Reagan starts tromping on his ass about this, he'll pass it,

she is all for it. She hates the bushes and I doubt
would hesitate to let gopher know where he belongs.

[drscm]

11. Woah! Don't let the bishop of Colorado Springs know about this.

The Catholic fundies will have no one left for whom they can vote.