The Science In Politics

Mitosis, blastocysts, cells, embryos, and the list of complicated words go on and on. It is all pretty boring stuff to provoke such fiery feuds. All of it stems, pardon the pun, from something found in every single living organism on the planet: cells. More specifically it is the cells that tell our body how to develop when we are just a weird little ball of fluid called an embryo. An embryo is a fertilized egg that has been allowed to develop for a couple of days. At this point the cells are getting their instructions to develop and can be manipulated into becoming anything from an ear to a new heart. I could go on but eventually it's all the mind-numbing stuff we learned in biology. For firm believers in science the premise doesn't disappoint, what does however, is what I can only call incompetence in part of the United States Government. In July 2001, months before the devastating 9/11 attacks, George Bush passed a law severely restricting research and threatening further restrictions making stem cells unapproachable for most scientists in the United States. The bill limited current, at the time, research to the 20 or so usable embryonic cell lines (not very many). True, all this happened 9 years ago, it seems like no big deal anymore, recently there has been a spark under the burner. In March 2009 President Obama issued an executive order that removed the restrictions against federally funded stem cell research. This came as encouraging news to the scientific community, but of course, there were obstacles. Something called the Dicker-Wickey Amendment prevented creating more cell lines. Keep in mind that once a cell is cultivated it is eventually destroyed while producing the intended result such as regenerating a spinal cord. All of these games of political footsie have prevented garnering incredible advantages in the biomedical world. Stem cells could have gone as far as creating a cure for cancer in the 10 years it has been slashed down by our government. I liken the separation of government and science to the separation of church and state. As much as I hate seeing private companies receiving the benefits of scientific breakthroughs I hate seeing the government blockading the same thing even more.