The long fight over stem cell research has been a complete waste of time, at least for the those arguing scientists should be able to use fetal stem cells derived from aborted babies. On that side, they argue that the potential life-saving benefits of the research far outweigh any moral considerations concerning the source of the cells. It appears to be a purely pragmatic argument, but it really isn’t. Scientists have known for years that adult stem cells are much easier to work with and produce more tangible and promising results in the lab. More generalized stem cells are also available from umbilical cords and uteran tissue. It’s easy to understand why the pro-lifers argue against using fetal stem cells. If they really believe that a fetus is fully a human being with all the rights of any other child, then they are morally obligated to fight almost anything that would encourage more abortions. So why would stem cell research advocates spend so much time and effort fighting for the superfluous ability to use fetal tissue? It seems to me that they do it for the same reasons that Hwang Woo-Suk might have had for faking his stem cell research: ideology, pride, and money.1
Ideology has always been a powerful force in the halls of science. In the seventeenth century, Galileo was persecuted by his fellow astronomers, because he didn’t tow the party line. Perfectly valid research by some physicists, geologists, biologists, and others is often ridiculed and dismissed out of hand, because it tends to undermine the prevailing “wisdom” of the day. Much of the research that is lauded is overblown, misinterpreted, or out-right faked. This one particular avenue of stem cell research may attract so much attention, because it is right in the middle of an ideological war over the status of unborn babies. Are they individual people with inherent rights or are they organs, part of a mother’s body? Scientists who take the latter view will tend to fight for their right to harvest stem cells from aborted babies long beyond the point of reasonable return on their effort, because they are true believers in the cause.
Anyone who has spent a great deal of time on something they consider to be important, especially when it has the potential for making them seem important in the eyes of others, will necessarily not want to give it up. If you show them how pointless their efforts are, they might actually work harder in an effort to prove their own worth. Their pride is a blinder to rationality.
However, the bottom line in almost every protracted struggle is money, and politicians are drawn like flies to you-know-what. The financial best interests of administrators, officials, lobbyists, congressmen, and every other stripe of bureaucrat lies in peddling fear and guilt. “Their going to kick you out on the street if the funding for this project is cut!” “If we don’t pass this law, you could die! Your children might suffer!” “Don’t you care that more people like Christopher Reeves will die if we don’t act right now?” Horse hockey. It’s your money they’re after. They don’t care about a better life for anyone but themselves. They will tell you anything they think will get you to give up your cash. They will threaten, cajole, deceive, and, ultimately, they will tell you it’s ok to kill your own children, because it might, someday, somehow, if we’re lucky, save someone else’s life. “What? No, don’t look behind you! Look at this terrible problem over here! You have to act now to save the children.”
Which children would that be again?
1Of course, many people have been fooled into thinking that fetal stem cell research is vital to the future salvation of people with cerebral palsy, nervous system injuries, and every other ailment under the sun. I’m not talking about them. I’m talking about the scientists, the people who should know better.
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