See my #19 to wagglebee: knowing that this is the Left strategy ( and I DO know it, whether you do or not), it is entirely logical to dismiss ESC out of hand, but not of course without attempting to start a dialog about it, which inevitably THEY will dismiss out of hand, by demagoguing it the way have global warming and other junk science. ANd as to your rhetorical question about ESC researchers discovering inadvertently or through a back or side door of research, that indeed ADULT stem cells are the answer---how or why could that ever happen? Is that a joke/rhetorical question. And isn't it pretty much the same thing as saying that we shouldn't shoot down a suicide bomber TODAY because in 10 years he might see the error of his ways and "reform" and have a revelation and join us?---as a number of them in fact have done) (Not trying to compare ESC researchers with Jihadists, mind you, just trying to make a point using your rather hypothetical terms.)I for one don't know on whose behalf you are conjuring your argument, or if you're just a contrarian. But I would like to know.
"ANd as to your rhetorical question about ESC researchers discovering inadvertently or through a back or side door of research, that indeed ADULT stem cells are the answer---how or why could that ever happen?"
Do you really think that embyonic and adult or cord stem cells are COMPLETELY different ? That research on and techniques learned on one could NEVER apply to the other ?
http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/basics2.asp
"Scientists are trying to understand two fundamental properties of stem cells that relate to their long-term self-renewal:
Why can embryonic stem cells proliferate for a year or more in the laboratory without differentiating, but most adult stem cells cannot; and
What are the factors in living organisms that normally regulate stem cell proliferation and self-renewal?"