Use Private Funds for Stem Cell Research

With all the talk about the Bush position on federal funding for stem cell research, I am amazed that no analyst or pundit has bothered to point out that federal funding is not required to conduct research. The availability of federal funding does not ensure that such research can or will proceed. Nor is withholding of federal funding equivalent to prohibiting such research.

Jerry Schwartz

Manhattan Beach

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How sad it is that President Bush has allowed his religious beliefs to dictate who will receive funds for continued work with stem cells for unlocking the secrets that could help millions around the world lead longer and more productive lives. Since he has declared that he feels I need protection and that none of my tax money will go for research beyond the 60 lines thought to be available, it is now up to me to give to private firms not bound by government funding for the continuation of this amazingly important research.

So would someone tell me just when I can expect to see the little box at the bottom of my income tax form that asks how much I want to donate to private stem cell research?

Sue Walls

Huntington Beach

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What is interesting about the religious objections to stem cell research is what the objectors would do upon becoming seriously ill. Go to their nearest church and pray for a cure? I don’t think so. More likely they would go to a hospital and hope that the latest breakthrough in medical science will save them. What hypocrisy.

Sheldon Archer

Canoga Park

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I’ve been patiently waiting for the media to notice Bush’s Goldilocks approach to governing. He told us his tax cut was not too big and not too small--just right. And if anyone changed it he threatened a veto. He told us his stem cell position is just right and threatened a veto. When is someone going to ask him to support his positions with facts and logic rather than porridge?

Paul Malykont

Los Osos

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It troubles me deeply that, apparently, many Americans consider a group of insensate cells in a petri dish to be worthy of protection while countless animals each year suffer agonizing deaths in slaughterhouses and laboratories.

Even those who support stem cell research seem at least to respect the arguments of those who oppose it, and yet animal welfare continues to be ridiculed.

Whatever you may think about their souls, you must at least agree that cells in a petri dish don’t suffer agonizing deaths at the hands of humans. Animals do, and often it isn’t for a cancer treatment or a cure for paralysis--it’s for a new mascara or eyeliner or shampoo.

John Harrington

Escondido