Do We Need More Embryonic Stem Cell Money

Embryonic stem cell (ESC) researchers are pleading poverty as if the Bush administration had cut off ESC funding.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The Bush policy liberalized ESCR.  There was no funding from any ESCR prior to August 9, 2001, the day the policy was instituted.  The policy restricts federal funding to ESC lines created from embryos destroyed before the date of the policy and only prohibits federal funding of research destroying embryos after August 9, 2001.  It does not restrict state or private funding of any type of ESCR.  The federal government funds this ESCR and the state of California approved $3 billion dollars for this kind of research and cloning.