NY stem cell research nears dangerous line
By Jesse Reynolds,
Newsday
| 01. 23. 2009
Stem cell research may soon make headlines again. The restrictions on federal funding imposed by former President George W. Bush are expected to be lifted. But here in New York, a different type of stem cell controversy is brewing.
Since 2007, the state has managed a large stem cell research funding program of its own, second only to that of California. While it has quietly been issuing millions of dollars in grants for a wide range of work, the program is considering crossing an unprecedented - and dangerous - ethical line.
Most of the debates around stem cell research have focused on the use of embryos left over in fertility clinics. Hopeful parents undergoing assisted reproduction often end up with more embryos than they need, and these could be used in medical research. Bush's policy limited federal funding for this line of work; President Barack Obama is expected to lift that restriction very soon.
The issue in New York is different. If stem cells could be derived from embryos made using cloning techniques, they would have all the genes of...
Related Articles
By Diaa Hadid and Shweta Desai, NPR | 01.29.2026
MUMBRA, India — The afternoon sun shines on the woman in a commuter-town café, highlighting her almond-shaped eyes and pale skin, a look often sought after by couples who need an egg to have a baby.
"I have good eggs,"...
By Steve Rose, The Guardian | 01.28.2026
Ed Zitron, EZPR.com; Experience Summit stage;
Web Summit 2024 via Wikipedia Commons licensed under CC by 2.0
If some time in an entirely possible future they come to make a movie about “how the AI bubble burst”, Ed Zitron will...
By Arthur Lazarus, MedPage Today | 01.23.2026
A growing body of contemporary research and reporting exposes how old ideas can find new life when repurposed within modern systems of medicine, technology, and public policy. Over the last decade, several trends have converged:
- The rise of polygenic scoring...
By Daphne O. Martschenko and Julia E. H. Brown, Hastings Bioethics Forum | 01.14.2026
There is growing concern that falling fertility rates will lead to economic and demographic catastrophe. The social and political movement known as pronatalism looks to combat depopulation by encouraging people to have as many children as possible. But not just...
