Will a Trump Administration Let Sleeping Stem Cells Lie?

Once upon a time, in a political universe far, far away, presidents and presidential candidates were obliged to weigh in on an esoteric laboratory procedure that extracted stem cells from human embryos, and on an innovative veterinary practice that enabled mammals to be cloned. In that exotic time and place, profound moral questions were vigorously debated in the media and in the Oval Office by big thinkers on the left and right, faith-based and secular. Presidential commissions furrowed their collective brows while scientists worried about their freedom to inquire, and policy wonks chewed over the spiritual implications of new biology for the body politic. Through it all, the politics of emerging biotech were rough and heated but, relatively speaking, the debate was profound and usually dignified. As often happens, matters were cooled by events and non-events. No human clones appeared, despite promises by fringe groups of imminent deliveries. Using human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) as a guide, scientists figured out how to obtain potent stem cells without destroying human embryos, and a president specified new ethical controls while approving new embryonic lines for research, as scientists claimed they were still needed. Since then, many laboratories have focused more on non-embryo-derived cells, though the hoped-for replacement of diseased tissues by means of stem cell biology has not fully come to pass. Though off of page one, stem cells have proven useful as a researc...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news