[extropy-chat] Christopher Reeve Foundation: Request

[Brett Paatsch]

Reason wrote:

> > With regard to stem cell research -- does Bush intend bans that would
> > affect research elsewhere in the world? Is stem cell research the best
> > short-term avenue to improved medical technology, or merely one among
> > several to be pursued in parallel?
> > -- David Lubkin.

..

> Stem cell medicine seems to be the fastest course to repairing arbitrary
> damage to the body, although some organ replacement needs will probably
also
> be well served by prosthetics. From a high level view, researchers are
> attempting to learn fundamental cellular processes in order to manipulate
> them to a desired result - repairing damage in situ in the body.
> Understanding and modifying the existing toolset to accomplish our ends,
in
> other words.
>
> My guesstimate - assuming no crackdown - is that we are 10 years away from
> commercial availability of simple applications, such as nerve and muscle
> repair, and 20 years away from complex uses, such as growing organs on
> demand. These could easily turn out to be 20 and 30 years if efforts to
> repress the technology continue, and I'm not convinced that the US is
going
> to be a very healthy part of the world economy 20 years from now.
> Constraints on medical development and commercialization are becoming more
> European with every passing year - and more of that means less meaningful
> research:

I just wanted to say good work to Reason re knowledge and
understanding of the politics and importance of embryonic stem cells.

>From what I can see Reason has an *uncommonly* good handle
on this issue. He's also done what I have not. He's made a web site
that can accelerate other peoples understanding.

Brett Paatsch