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Scientists Create New Human Embryonic Stem Cell
Homework Help writes "U.S. scientists were successful in creating a new human embryonic stem cell. From source, "U.S. researchers said on Monday they have created a new human embryonic stem cell by fusing an embryonic stem cell to an ordinary skin cell.
They hope their method could someday provide a way to create tailor-made medical treatments without having to start from scratch using cloning technology.
That would mean generating the valuable cells without using a human egg, and without creating a human embryo, which some people, including President George W. Bush, find objectionable.
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Please keep that in mind before you start bitching about us Christians being anti-science.
Actually, the National Institute of Health is the federal agency that assigns the funding in question. The NIH is part of the Department of Health and Human services, which is part of the executive branch, which the president is the head of. There's your constitutional basis.
Executive orders do not have (and never have had) the force of law. Congress can override them simply by passing a law contradicting the order, and the Supreme Court can strike orders down (and has in the past). The only type of orders that do have force of law are those made in pursuance of certain Acts of Congress which give the President discretionary powers.
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Regarding the debate, Bush is losing.
Most Americans now think the ban should be dropped and the government should "fund research that would use newly created stem cells obtained from human embryos".
The president has a moral obligation to do what's best for the country as a whole instead of acting out of his own personal religious beliefs.
Strictly speaking, he does not have that obligation, nor that power. He can recommend to the Congress "such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." He must do what is necessary to uphold the law of the land.
But the power to act lies within Congress, and any recommendation by the President is based upon his personal opinion, which may or may not reflect what is best for the country.
This is why there is a separation of powers, so that the Congress can hold a President, who either oversteps his authority, or is an idiot, in check.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
Not quite - current researchers say they're about 3-5 years away from starting human trials in repairing spinal cord injuries with stem cells. More here, though due to the halt on federal funding, this has been somewhat derailed (we were 5 years away in 2000).
You can not patent the "sequence" of a gene. The whole genome sequence is freely available to the public.
In simple terms what you could patent is the discovery that "this piece of sequence does that" or how it functions in nature and how can it be utilized.
http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome /elsi/patents.shtml