I certainly hope, for Anise’s sake and those of others in her (?) position that retinal stem cell research advances. My understanding, though, is that the most promising lines of research there do not involve embryonic stem cells, which are apparently not sufficiently differentiated. For example, I recall reading about an experiment where blind mice appeared to regain their sight after having retinal stem cells from 3-day-old mice transplanted, and that previous attempts had failed because the stem cells were too “immature.” If that is the case – and if, as i also understand, the only kind of stem cell research that currently cannot be funded by the federal government is embryonic stem cell research (outside of pre-existing stem cell lines), it doesn’t seem that passage of this bill would help. Now just throwing more money at the research might, but that’s another story. . .
We will eventually be able to use stem cells as a method of complete repair for most tissue damage that occurs over time as a result of normal metabolism. We will be living a lot longer, and in decent health.
Bush II, and everyone else against the idea of stem cell research and massively extended human longevity, will change their tune as soon as they, or someone they care about, are confronted with a disease and/or death that might be staved off/cured with a stem-cell-based treatment.