Centrally planned job creation and scientific research pose many of the same problems: extraordinary expense, a pattern of politically shaped insider transactions, and less than promising results. This occurs for substantially the same reason: government attempts to pick winners and losers in developing fields ignore the discipline of the marketplace and the wisdom of personal investment. Consider the story of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). California voters approved Proposition 71 in 2004, which authorized the creation of the institute and permitted it to raise up to $3 billion …
Even as debate and votes are launched this week on health care reform bills that will hurt “our capacity to innovate” and “develop new therapies”, the Obama Administration moved yesterday to make federal funds available for controversial experimentation that has thus far failed to generate any human therapies. Taxpayer money will now flow to support research using cell lines derived from the destruction of human embryos. The National Institutes of Health approved the first 13 stem cell lines on Wednesday, and several dozen more of these lines are nearing approval …
FRC Action senior vice president Connie Mackey was adamant about what conservatives should tell reporters when asked if they support stem cell research: “Say, yes!” Of course conservatives must then explain to reporters the huge difference between adult stem research and embryonic stem cell research. Also on the “Truth Behind Capitol Hill’s Leading Ladies” panel at the Values Voters Summit, Rep. Michelle Bachman told the audience, “Science is our friend. We have not seen any breakthroughs with embryonic stem cell research. We have seen them with adult stem cell research.” …
