Bigger than Dolly?
By Jesse Reynolds,
Genetic Crossroads
| 06. 29. 2007
Here in the United States, political maneuverings around embryonic stem cell research made headlines throughout June. But this was little more than rehearsed political theatre, reenacting a well-known script. The Democratic-controlled Congress once again passed a bill that would have undone restrictions on the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, but the Republican President again vetoed it. Despite last year's electoral shift in Congress, the bill's advocates are still far short of the super-majority needed to override the veto.
Though the debate remains polarized and deadlocked, supporters of President Bush's restrictions - including many Republicans up for reelection next year - are no doubt looking for ways to extricate themselves from their increasingly unpopular position. To date, they've largely gambled on the emergence of alternative sources of stem cells that are just as powerful as those derived from embryos, but that can be produced without destroying embryos.
Until now, this strategy has been largely rhetorical. But it appears that scientific developments - including one that was heralded by several researchers as being as important as the birth of Dolly...
Related Articles
By Eric Schmidt, TIME | 04.16.2024
Imagine a world where everything from plastics to concrete is produced from biomass. Personalized cell and gene therapies prevent pandemics and treat previously incurable genetic diseases. Meat is lab-grown; enhanced nutrient grains are climate-resistant. This is what the future could...
By Harold Brubaker, The Philadelphia Inquirer | 04.04.2024
Acompany started by University of Pennsylvania scientist Jim Wilson has received FDA approval to test a form of gene editing in infants for the first time in the United States, the company said Thursday.
The Plymouth Meeting company, iECURE, is...
By Carey Gillan, UnSpun | 03.18.2024
A Mexican standoff with the United States turned into a Mexican smack-down this month with the release of Mexico’s formal rebuttal to US efforts to overturn limits Mexico has ordered on the use of genetically modified (GM) corn and the...
By Billy Perrigo, TIME | 03.11.2024
The U.S. government must move “quickly and decisively” to avert substantial national security risks stemming from artificial intelligence (AI) which could, in the worst case, cause an “extinction-level threat to the human species,” says a report commissioned by the U.S...