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The Raelian Movement
for those who are not afraid of the future : http://www.rael.org
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Scientists attack court ruling against Barack Obama's stem cell policy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/aug/24/scientists-attack-stem-cells-ruling
Order blocking government funding of stem cell research is a serious
setback in search for cures to diseases, say scientists
* Chris McGreal in Washington
* guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 24 August 2010 19.24 BST
* Article history
(FILES) Embryonic stem cells are picture Barack Obama's opponents say
he overstepped a law barring the US government funding research in
which human embryos are destroyed. Photograph: Mauricio Lima/AFP/Getty
Images
American scientists have reacted with anger at a court ruling that
strikes down Barack Obama's decision to greatly expand medical
research using stem cells taken from human embryos.
Scientists described the order by a federal judge in Washington, who
said that the president had overstepped a law barring the government
funding of research in which human embryos are destroyed, as
"deplorable" and "a serious setback" in the search for cures to major
diseases.
Lawyers for an alliance of Christian groups who brought the case,
which tied opposition to experiments on embryonic stem cells to the
anti-abortion campaign, said the ruling appeared to go further than
restrictions under President George Bush and bar all government
funding for such research. It also pushes the ever-contentious issue
of abortion to the fore again in the runup to November's mid-term
elections and presents Obama with the difficult choice of whether he
wants a battle in the courts and in Congress to repeal the
legislation.
The court order came after an executive order by Obama in March last
year that lifted restrictions put in place by Bush eight years
earlier. Those restrictions limited government funding to a small
number of existing lines of human embryonic stem cells. The
administration had allocated about $250m (£160m) to the research. The
National Institutes of Health added an additional 70 lines after
Obama's order. But Judge Royce Lamberth ruled that the president's
decision was in conflict with the Dickey-Wicker amendment, a 1996 law
that bars the use of government funds for "research in which a human
embryo or embryos are destroyed". The law has been renewed by Congress
each year.
Scientists swiftly condemned the ruling. The California Institute for
Regenerative Medicine (Cirm) said the court order would disrupt
advances in research for cures to diseases such as diabetes and Lou
Gehrig's. "The decision is a deplorable brake on all stem cell
research," said Cirm's president, Alan Trounson. "Many discoveries
with other cell types ... would not happen without ongoing research in
human embryonic stem cells."
Steven Aden, a lawyer for the Alliance Defence Fund which brought the
case, said: "We're gratified that the court accepted what we think is
a plain and commonsense reading of the applicable law and we're
hopeful that ultimately this will result in the renewal of good,
science-based funding for adult stem cell research."
Scientists were also left confused over whether they had to
immediately halt embryonic stem cell work paid for with government
funds or if the ruling only prevented federal authorities from
distributing more grants.
Cirm said the order appeared to bar research permitted even under the
tighter regulations imposed by Bush.
Aden said he believed the ruling prohibits any government-funded
research involving embryonic stem cells.
"We think that's right. When congress passed the Dickey-Wicker
amendment back in the days of the Clinton administration the reason
for that was to get the American public out of funding research that
involves the destruction of human life," he said.
An opinion poll by the Pew foundation last year found that 54% of
Americans support research using human embryos.
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WARNING FROM RAEL: For those who don't use their intelligence at its full
capacity, the label "selected by RAEL" on some articles does not mean that I
agree with their content or support it. "Selected by RAEL" means that I believe
it is important for the people of this planet to know about what people think or
do, even when what they think or do is completely stupid and against our
philosophy. When I selected articles in the past about stupid Christian
fundamentalists in America praying for rain, I am sure no Rael-Science reader
was stupid enough to believe that I was supporting praying to change the
weather. So, when I select articles which are in favor of drugs, anti-semitic,
anti-Jewish, racist, revisionist, or inciting hatred against any group or
religion, or any other stupid article, it does not mean that I support them. It
just means that it is important for all human beings to know about them. Common
sense, which is usually very good among our readers, is good enough to
understand that. When, like in the recent articles on drug decriminalization, it
is necessary to make it clearer, I add a comment, which in this case was very
clear: I support decriminalizing all drugs, as it is stupid to throw depressed
and sad people (as only depressed and sad people use drugs) in prison and ruin
their life with a criminal record. That does not mean that there is any change
to the Message which says clearly that we must not use any drug except for
medical purposes. The same applies to the freedom of expression which must be
absolute. That does not mean again of course that I agree with anti-Jews,
antisemites, racists of any kind or anti-Raelians. But by knowing your enemies
or the enemies of your values, you are better equipped to fight them. With love
and respect of course, and with the wonderful sentence of the French philosopher
Voltaire in mind: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death
your right to say it".
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"Ethics" is simply a last-gasp attempt by deist conservatives and
orthodox dogmatics to keep humanity in ignorance and obscurantism,
through the well tried fermentation of fear, the fear of science and
new technologies.
There is nothing glorious about what our ancestors call history,
it is simply a succession of mistakes, intolerances and violations.
On the contrary, let us embrace Science and the new technologies
unfettered, for it is these which will liberate mankind from the
myth of god, and free us from our age old fears, from disease,
death and the sweat of labour.
Rael
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