Stem Cell Smoke and Mirrors

Steven Milloy, adjunct scholar at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, has a great editorial on the myths and facts surrounding the stem cell debate on foxnews.com. In particular, he scolds researchers for sidestepping the crux of the controversy - "whether or not taxpayers should fund the morally questionable destruction of viable embryos in the name of expensive, speculative medical research."

The reason that embryonic stem cell researchers are agitating for taxpayer money is that their private funding has dried up. Private investors and venture capitalists are not investing in embryonic stem cell research because they perceive it to be a pipe dream unlikely to produce any progress and, hence, investment returns, in any reasonable time frame.

Researchers aspiring to be on the dole and investors whose money is mired in floundering stem cell research firms are looking to federal funds for relief. Such groups already hoodwinked California voters for $3 billion last year with Proposition 71 — a sum that pales in comparison with what Congress could slop in their troughs.

The bottom line is that if embryonic stem cell research had real promise, private investment would be overflowing into biotech companies. But it's not.