St. Louis Business Journal Obfuscates the Language of Biotech

One would expect the St. Louis Business Journal to publish an editorial supporting Big Biotech’s desire to promote human cloning as a potential gargantuan profit-making technology in the fields of science and medicine. The editors are certainly entitled to their opinion. But what is so outrageous about this editorial—typifying the contempt some proponents of human cloning apparently have for democracy—is the misuse of words and the muddying of crucial definitions and distinctions to win political points. For example, if you read this editorial, you might think that the Missouri legislation referenced by the editorial is seeking to outlaw all types of “stem cell research,” which is, of course, nonsense. You might even believe that it seeks to outlaw embryonic stem cell research that uses leftover embryos from IVF treatments. That too, would be wrong. The legislation is quite explicit that it seeks to outlaw all “human cloning.” That is a different kettle of fish, as I am sure the editorial writers know. They just don’t want you to know it.