Monday, August 15, 2005

More on stem cells

Glenn Reynolds writes, in linking to a promising, ethical method of doing stem cell research:
I certainly hope that this pans out. But before the anti-embryonic-stem-cell crowd rushes to say "so it's okay to ban research on embryonic stem cells!" I think I should add a cautionary note: We don't know if this will pan out yet, and making it work may well depend on, or be sped by, research on embryonic cells.
I'm sure that there are some people who think that research on embryonic stem cells ought to be banned outright, but this is not what the current debate is about. The current debate is about whether or not the federal government should fund it or whether it should be left to private citizens, companies, and local governments to work out what is best for the community. Prof. Reynolds knows this, but refuses to (or just doesn't) acknowledge it because, you know, it might cloud up his whole "Leon Kass is a luddite who must be stopped" theme.