[extropy-chat] Politics: Laura Bush Defends George Bush's Stem Cell Views

[Mike Lorrey]

--- "natashavita at earthlink.net" <natashavita at earthlink.net> wrote:

> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5652274/
> 
> This very well could become a definitive issue for the upcoming US
> election, or an argument between a current First Lady and a former
> First
> Lady.  I'd like to see "Nancy" roll up her shirt sleeves and get in
> there and fight for biotech progress.

This might be a good strategy to pursue. However, Nancy always had more
in common politically with Michael Reagan than with Ron Jr., she was
always very right-to-life.

That being said, I can't say that I am all that upset over the
restrictions on government funding for stem cell research, from a
libertarian point of view. There are 78 cell lines available for public
funding research, and in the 3 years since Bush's restrictions, the
private sector has produced about 100 more with private funds outside
the scope of government controls. It looks to me like the private
sector is taking up the slack fine, especially with the hundreds of
millions of dollars in funding coming from the Hughes Medical
Foundation. Getting the public sector out of paying for medical
research is ultimately okay with me if the private sector is ageeable
to taking it on. 

Bush's limits are also motivating research into ways to produce stem
cell lines without using an embryo, which from an ethical standpoint,
everyone should be happy with. While I support human testing, the
humans being tested upon must have an informed choice in the matter.
Embryos, by definition, do not, and I'm opposed to fictional persons,
aka corporations, being able to own (or destroy) human beings that they
create.

Thus, a more ethical use of resources would focus on how private cell
lines are treated by private groups, establishing a system of guardians
ad leitem to speak for those who can't speak for themselves, and if any
research results in production of living human beings, such beings must
be provided for by trusts, set up by their creators, with both Trustee
and Protector being named individuals, natural persons, who are outside
the influence of the creating corporation.

=====
Mike Lorrey
Chairman, Free Town Land Development
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
                                         -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=Sadomikeyism


		
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail is new and improved - Check it out!
http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail