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The source of this article is NewKerala: http://tinyurl.com/6u4vb Bush's stand could jeopardise stem cell research: [World News]: Worcester (US), Oct 23 : In an unprecedented move, the Royal Society -- Britain's National Academy of Science -- this week asked the UN to ignore US President George W. Bush's call for a ban on all forms of human cloning, including stem cell research. What hangs in the balance, on the cusp of the UN vote and the upcoming US presidential election, is not only the plight of millions of patients but also the future of one of the greatest medical advances in the 21st century, reports UPI. It is alarming that the policy being pushed by the Bush administration is not in sync with either public opinion (a recent Harris poll indicates six of seven people in the US asked fully support all forms of stem cell research), or the expert opinions of thousands of scientists and scores of Nobel laureates, both in the US and worldwide. Bush has also ignored the recommendations of the most renowned scientific and medical groups in the country, including the American Medical Association, National Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Indeed, the president's ideological blinders seem to have put him in the same factual vacuum he found himself in at the start of the Iraq war: then and now, he refuses to look at the facts in an objective or scientific fashion. Even the US' new ambassador to the UN, John Danforth, called a news conference in support of therapeutic cloning and the urgent need for this research. Now, like National Institutes of Health chief Elias Zerhouni, Danforth has had to swallow the Bush policy -- he must promote the Bush position to the UN that represents neither the scientific facts nor public opinion. In the US, Bush's habit of mixing personal religious beliefs with public policy has slowly and subtly eroded the line between church and state. This is inappropriate and damaging to human well being and public health. If the Bush administration succeeds in extending this to the world via a UN ban, it will be a sad day indeed. Bush's policies in the area of scientific research are as damaging to public interest as his foreign policies have been to the state of international peace. In the US arena, a careful look at the record will show that a scientific and factual view of the world has rarely been incorporated into decision-making by this president. Earlier this year, 5,000 scientists (including 48 Nobel laureates) spoke out in support of embryonic stem cell research and therapeutic cloning, and expressed outrage at the Bush administration's habit of distorting science. When Laura and George W. Bush state that embryonic stem cell research holds no near-term promise for helping patients with debilitating diseases, scientists on the front lines know they are flat-out wrong. With adequate funding, the first therapies can be out within five years. The scientific results so far speak for themselves. In animals, embryonic stem cells already have reversed diabetes and fixed damaged hearts. Nerve cells have been used to treat Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and restore function to paralysed rats. Stem cell scientists worldwide have no interest in destroying lives. They obtain stem cells from tiny balls of cells left over in in-vitro fertilisation clinics. Some 400,000 of these are either discarded or frozen in the US. --Indo-Asian News Service ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn