What is stem cell research? And why is Bush against it?

Question

What is stem cell research? And why is Bush against it?

Answer 1

He is against it for ethical reasons.  A lot of people are.  It is using cells from umbilical cords.  I think a lot of people believe that it is only aborted babies that are used but it is live babies too.

Answer 2

Bush is NOT against stem cell research. He is against creating new lines of "embryonic" (from fertilized human eggs) stem cells. Beyond that, anything is fair game. You can get stem cells from many other sources besides embryos... cord blood is just one very useful source that hurts no one since it is harvested after the baby is born. There are adult sources as well. And all of them are every bit as promising as that from embryos... but without the ethical and moral baggage that goes along with them.

Answer 3

I can answer part 2 of your Q. I am trying to be as fair to Bush as I can (because I have no respect for him). Stem cell research has a similiar image to GM crops in the UK. The voting public, not understanding the science fully, are highly suspicious. The popular media in both countries created fear on both issues.

In the USA, supporting stem cell research would mean losing the many votes. The voters are suspicious. They don't like it. They would find it hard to vote for someone who supports it. They might not vote for another candidate. But just not vote.

I'll let someone else tell you what it is. Whole different subject.

Answer 4

Bush isn't against stem cell research.  He's against government funding for NEW lines of embrionic stem cell research.  The implication is that this would open the door to embryo creation for the purposes of scientific research.  It violates his position on preserving the sanctity of life as these embryo's could potentially be harvested (and subsequently destroyed) exclusively for stem cells.

Answer 5

Because it COULD benefit regular normal Americans and that's not how Bush thinks.......he doesn't care about things that aren't making the rich - richer!!

Answer 6

Government involvement, He doesn't think it is a government matter. He wants less government, typical conservative.

Answer 7

The stem cell research that President Bush (show some respect please and use the title) and other sane people are against is the kind that involves taking human embryos and killing them so they can get at the stem cells in the body.  Stem cells are cells that have not changed into a specific kind of cell yet. As such, they can be manipulated to be forced to turn into any kind of cell you want: hair, skin, bone, organ etc.  There are ways to get stem cells from adults who have died too but some scientists insist on wanting to use embryos despite the fact that they are killing babies to do it.  

But then, in a society where so many women think it's their "right" to choose whether their unborn baby lives or dies (what about the baby's rights?) I suppose that killing thousands of babies to study their cells is no big deal.  It's like the Holocaust all over again.

Answer 8

Stem cell research is done  on embryos .  This research they have found can be done on skin tissue without harming a fetus, ot from umbilical cords..  President Bush is against government funding for good reason.  There may be abuses if stem cell research were done that would be construed by many as  a immoral.  The government should not be involved.  I would not want my tax money going for it when there are proved alternatives.

One scenario might be women getting pregnant to abort so they might be able to sell the fetus.  There are other abuses, this might be one example.

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