Stem Cell Caution
By Richard Hayes,
Tom Paine
| 05. 24. 2006
Support for stem cell research has become a cause célèbre among Democrats. Last year New Jersey Senator Jon Corzine made it a big part of his successful campaign for Governor. This year New York Attorney General Elliott Spitzer is proposing a $1 billion stem cell bond issue as part of his own gubernatorial campaign. In Missouri Democrat Claire McCaskill is spotlighting stem cell research in her effort to unseat Republican Senator Jim Talent. And this week marks the one year anniversary of the passage of Castle-DeGette, the House bill that expands federal funding for stem cell research. Senate Democrats are rallying to push for a vote as soon as possible on the Senate version of this bill.
I'm a life-long liberal Democrat, pro-choice on abortion and a supporter of innovative medical research. I believe that stem cell research holds promise, and that the Bush administration's policies are unnecessarily restrictive. Now stem cells appear to be giving Democrats a potent vote-getting wedge issue.
Why am I worried about this?
I'm worried because in their over-the-top enthusiasm for stem cell and cloning...
Related Articles
By Teddy Rosenbluth, The New York Times | 02.09.2026
Dr. Mehmet Oz has urged Americans to get vaccinated against measles, one of the strongest endorsements of the vaccine yet from a top health official in the Trump administration, which has repeatedly undermined confidence in vaccine safety.
Dr. Oz, the...
By Ava Kofman, The New Yorker | 02.09.2026
1. The Surrogates
In the delicate jargon of the fertility industry, a woman who carries a child for someone else is said to be going on a “journey.” Kayla Elliott began hers in February, 2024, not long after she posted...
By Alex Polyakov, The Conversation | 02.09.2026
Prospective parents are being marketed genetic tests that claim to predict which IVF embryo will grow into the tallest, smartest or healthiest child.
But these tests cannot deliver what they promise. The benefits are likely minimal, while the risks to...
By Lauren Hammer Breslow and Vanessa Smith, Bill of Health | 01.28.2026
On Jan. 24, 2026, the New York Times reported that DNA sequences contributed by children and families to support a federal effort to understand adolescent brain development were later co-opted by other researchers and used to publish “race science”...
