Wired: Bush Stem Cell Ban Wrong, But Not Anti-Science
President Bush's stem cell policy may have been restrictive and misguided, but it wasn't anti-science.
In the wake of Obama's decision to lift Bush's funding ban, many scientists are celebrating the freedom of science from ideology. Their relief is understandable, but the rhetoric is disturbing.
The Bush administration didn't skew stem cell research like it did environmental science: It simply said it wasn't right. Bush's limitations on embryonic research were ethical and legitimate — but not, as many observers have noted, anti-science.
"Some scientists may take home the wrong message: that moral concerns should not restrict what scientists can do. But that's clearly false," said Tom Murray, director of the Hastings Center, a nonpartisan bioethics think tank.
There are good reasons why society puts ethical boundaries on science.
The Nuremberg code is the best-known example of this. ...
In the wake of Obama's decision to lift Bush's funding ban, many scientists are celebrating the freedom of science from ideology. Their relief is understandable, but the rhetoric is disturbing.
The Bush administration didn't skew stem cell research like it did environmental science: It simply said it wasn't right. Bush's limitations on embryonic research were ethical and legitimate — but not, as many observers have noted, anti-science.
"Some scientists may take home the wrong message: that moral concerns should not restrict what scientists can do. But that's clearly false," said Tom Murray, director of the Hastings Center, a nonpartisan bioethics think tank.
There are good reasons why society puts ethical boundaries on science.
The Nuremberg code is the best-known example of this. ...
