Letter to the Editor: Stem Cell Politics
By Richard Hayes,
New York Times
| 05. 01. 2006
To the Editor:
Re "Democrats Hope to Divide G.O.P. Over Stem Cells" (news article, April 24):
I'm a lifelong Democrat, pro-choice on abortion and in favor of stem cell research. But over-the-top promotion of this research is a mistake that could come back to bite us, and its use as a wedge issue is ill advised.
Stem cells may still prove to be a therapeutic dry hole. If successfully developed, stem cell therapies are likely to be prohibitively expensive.
Stem cell research puts women who donate eggs at significant medical risk, and could foster trafficking in eggs from poor women in developing countries.
The same stem cell technologies that might have beneficial medical applications could be used by rogue scientists intent on creating human clones and genetically modified children.
Stem cell research should be allowed, but it should proceed cautiously, under tight federal oversight.
Richard Hayes
Executive Director
Center for Genetics and Society
Oakland, Calif., April 24, 2006
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