Bush's Stem Cell "Victory"

If it weren't for Dubya the vetoing embryonic stem cell bill and defunding research, scientists would have never been able to reprogram ordinary skin cells to behave like embryonic stem cells. Confusing, isn't it?

Two groups of scientists in Wisconsin and Japan have found a way to reprogram ordinary skin cells so they behave like embryonic stem cells. So it may become unnecessary to use embryos in this cutting-edge research.

When the good news was announced, the White House had the gall... to claim the victory as its own. “This is very much in accord with the president’s vision from the get-go,” said policy adviser Karl Zinsmeister. Without the slightest hint of irony, he suggested that their stalwart opposition actually fueled the scientists’ success. Next thing you know the president will nominate himself for the Nobel Prize in medicine.

Is that what he was doing when he surrounded himself with all those snowflake babies?

As Ellen Goodman at Truthdig.com continues:

This breakthrough was not the president’s “vision from the get-go” or any other go. First of all, the Bush administration bet on the wrong horse—adult stem cells. Second, the researchers couldn’t have gotten to step two without step one. They needed human embryos to learn how to do this without human embryos. They’ll still need embryos for some time, as both a benchmark and a way to judge whether stem cells from skin are effective and safe.

So let's all thank Dr. Bush, the 21st Century Einstein, as he has delayed stem cell research by at least five years.