Stem Cell Research

Here, you have something of a point. However, do you also object to federal funding for ANY research from which corporation might benefit in the future? Or, do you only apply this objection to stem cell research?

This is exactly the sort of research the government should fund. It is very expensive, but there is very little profit to be made from most applications. Most of the prospective treatments involve conditions and diseases which are relatively rare. The example cited at the start of this thread involves perhaps a few hundred, or a few thousand, new cases each year. No company is going to put millions of dollars into a product with that few applications. Now, if there was the possibility of making a man's dick longer, or a woman's boobs bigger, then biomedical companies would be all over stem cell research. But, repairing a few thousand spinal injuries, or a few hundred disease-ravaged brains, just isn't worth it to them.

Stephanie wrote:
I don't know who you're trying to kid. Hundreds of thousands of Americans suffer spinal injuries. Hundreds of thousands of Americans live with brain injuries. Millions endure Alzheimer's disease and senile dementia. There are billions to be made off of treatments for diseases and injuries to the brain and spinal column.

Stephanie wrote:As far as how large the embryo is......I subscribe to the theory of the late, great Dr. Seuss. A person's a person no matter how small.

Here, you have something of a point. However, do you also object to federal funding for ANY research from which corporation might benefit in the future? Or, do you only apply this objection to stem cell research?

Stephanie wrote:If the government is paying for the research, corporations should not be getting filthy rich at the expense of citizens off of the product of the research. It doesn't matter to me if the government funded research is on stem cells or fruit flies.

Stephanie wrote:I simply don't know how I can make myself any clearer.

Here, you have something of a point. However, do you also object to federal funding for ANY research from which corporation might benefit in the future? Or, do you only apply this objection to stem cell research?

Stephanie wrote:If the government is paying for the research, corporations should not be getting filthy rich at the expense of citizens off of the product of the research. It doesn't matter to me if the government funded research is on stem cells or fruit flies.

bmd wrote:

Stephanie wrote:I simply don't know how I can make myself any clearer.

Here, you have something of a point. However, do you also object to federal funding for ANY research from which corporation might benefit in the future? Or, do you only apply this objection to stem cell research?

Stephanie wrote:If the government is paying for the research, corporations should not be getting filthy rich at the expense of citizens off of the product of the research. It doesn't matter to me if the government funded research is on stem cells or fruit flies.

Well then, essentially what you want is for bio-medical research to come to a halt. No advances ever again. Let the rest of the world figure out how to cure cancer, neuromuscular diseases, HIV, autism, brain trauma, etc., etc., etc. We'll just stop the medical clock right where it is and feel smug that no one profited from the research we wouldn't fund, right?

Fortunately, even the GOP isn't so short-sighted.

bmd wrote:
Right now, stem cell researchers are just beginning to understand how to utilize this technology. It will probably be several years, and I would guess hundreds of millions of dollars, before any marketable products result. Too long a time line, without enough pay-off, for corporations to fund this sort of basic research.