Michael Tanner at the Cato Institute notes that the recent furor over stem cell research really isn’t the bioethics, but who should pay for the research.
First, this is not a debate about whether stem cell research should be legal. It is, and no one in Congress or the Bush administration has proposed banning it. In fact, there are at least nine private stem cell research centers across the country. The largest, at Harvard University, employs more than 100 researchers and recently unveiled 17 new stem cell lines.
No, this is really a fight about money, about whether the federal government should fund the research. And, as such, it is a perfect example of how science becomes politicized when government money is involved.
I think the last part is a valid point. Often times when the government funds scientific research the government might have a vested interest in the outcome. In this case it is certainly true.
