Mississippi House bans embryonic stem cell research

Thanks to bioethics.com for alerting me to this story.

(Of course, it’s only the House – let’s see whether it gets through the Missippi Senate and is signed by the Governor. Hope so.)

The story is common to all who work for laws, especially those which restrict funding for the “experts.” One of the legislators is quoted:

Rep. John Mayo tried to amend the bill to allow the House to allow partial embryonic stem cell research to continue.

“Folks, we don’t know squat,” Mayo said. “We shouldn’t be dabbling in this. Let the researchers do it.”

If we learn anything from the history of scientific research, including recent history from South Korea, it is that when “we don’t know anything,” we should slow down, work on the animal models first, and prove the technique is beneficial before we allow human experiments.

I’m sure that embryonic stem cell research was sold as for the “cures” and the promises were that only “spare embryos that were going to be thrown away, anyway.”

First, there are no “spare” human embryos, just poor ethics in the production of embryonic children on the behalf of parents who are desperate and longing.

Second, these “spare” embryos can only take the place of animal models. In order to actually match the patient’s needs, won’t treatments require “patient-specific” embryonic stem cells. (Also known as cloned human embryonic stem cells.)