The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 2 of 9)

Ron Reagan's Stem Sell : /p>

The last time we inquired it appeared that entry level qualifications for stem cell research included, among others, a Ph.D. degree or equivalent in the area of cell and molecular biology, as well as a minimum of 6 years of post-graduate experience in the area of adult and embryonic stem cell biology. Experience in the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industries is also customarily required.

p>It is most reassuring to note that Mr. Reagan has done his family -- especially his late father -- proud by having mastered the prerequisites to delivering a "prime-time" dissertation to the American public covering the issues involved in such a delicate, professionally demanding, empirical field of scientific endeavor. The course of the history of science is about to be altered with the same verve as was evident when Dr. Jonas Salk succeeded in defeating polio meningitis with his vaccine. br> -- Seamus Muldoon, Jr. br> Richland, Washington /p>

George Neumayr could also have pointed out that in contrast to the pirouetter-turned-pundit, Michael Reagan recently wrote in his nationally-syndicated column: "I'm getting a little tired of the media's insistence on reporting that the Reagan 'family' is in favor of stem cell research, when the truth is that two members of the family have been long time foes of this process of manufacturing human beings -- my dad, Ronald Reagan during his lifetime, and me."

p>Note that Michael Reagan was referring strictly to embryronic stem cells, which not only raise serious moral issues but are purely experimental, and not the adult stem cells from our own bodies and umbilical cords that have been used to cure fatal diseases like leukemia since the 1980s. But my guess is Ron Reagan Jr. wouldn't know an adult stem cell if it danced past him in a bright pink tutu. br> -- Michael Fumento br> Senior Fellow br> Hudson Institute

topics:
Taxes, John McCain, Business, Environment, Iraq, NATO, Conservatism, Nuclear Weapons, Oil