No bluff, Bush vetoes potential medical advances

When I posted the addendum to the stem cell research breakthrough, I really hoped dubya was bluffing about ignoring the will of the people and hampering medical research just to "play to his base" of extreme conservatives. Of course, the will of the people has little to do with his decisions.


During his tenure, Bush had never objected to a single thing done by the GOP-controlled Congress. He even went so far as to explain his lack of vetoing by saying "they give me exactly what I ask for". This means that every single pork-barrel project that crossed his desk was not worthy of shooting down. All the extreme corruption that's been going on for 5 years, wreaking havoc with our economy - none of it was vetoed.


However for the first time ever, Bush issued a veto - against stem cell research and the potential for medical advances that this research might hold. Bush would rather have the US fall behind in medical research, be dependent on other countries for such advances, and demand that in-vitro byproducts be thrown in the trash rather than utilized to potentially cure horrible diseases.


Despite sounding like rhetoric, "thrown in the trash" is perfectly accurate. In announcing his veto of scientific research, Bush carefully avoided saying what his decision really means. The truth is that in-vitro fertilization produces many blastulas, because the chance of any one growing into an embryo and hopefully into a human being is very low. Therefore, many eggs are fertilized, and implantation attempts (sometimes several are necessary) are made with many of them at a time. When the procedure is successful and the remaining blastulas are no longer needed, they are disposed of. They are thrown away as medical waste, much like a surgically removed tumor. That is what Bush's "sanctity of life" mandate means.


Research into human embryonic stem cells can utilize these cells as part of their search for cures to the diseases that afflict us. While merely speculation at this point, it is quite possible that this research can find cures for things like cancer, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's or diabetes. To know, we have to follow the ways of science, not extremist dogma.

Other than the extreme conservatives that preach that anything involving the word "stem" is evil, what benefits from Bush's stubborn ignorance of science? Other than his political polls with his base, that would be the diseases themselves.



(political cartoon credit to the following: Tom Toles, Tony Auth, Stuart Carlson, Ben Sargent, and Mike Thompson)