stem cell research
Slightest hope worthwhile
Sen. Tom Coburn justifies his opposition to embryonic stem cell research by saying that it cheapens the lives of the "terminally ill or severely handicapped." But most ill and handicapped people would welcome research that offers hope of a cure, however slight.
What really cheapens these people's lives is when politicians tell them that their lives are less important than the lives of doomed embryos. To say that the research should stop because no cures were produced in 12 years is absurd.
Advances in medicine often take longer - and this is a new field. It's also particularly disingenuous of politicians to point to lack of cures after actively working to starve the field of funding.
Sen. Tom Coburn justifies his opposition to embryonic stem cell research by saying that it cheapens the lives of the "terminally ill or severely handicapped." But most ill and handicapped people would welcome research that offers hope of a cure, however slight.
What really cheapens these people's lives is when politicians tell them that their lives are less important than the lives of doomed embryos. To say that the research should stop because no cures were produced in 12 years is absurd.
Advances in medicine often take longer - and this is a new field. It's also particularly disingenuous of politicians to point to lack of cures after actively working to starve the field of funding.