Unstated Conflicts of Interest and a Bizarre Charge of Frankensteinism

This story about the hearing on a bill to loosen President Bush’s embryonic stem cell funding policy demonstrates the hypocrisy and the obfuscation that marks this debate on the pro-ESCR/cloning side. First, the “ethicist” Ronald M. Green supports creating embryos for destruction. But he criticizes the Altered Nuclear Transfer proposal (ANT), which if it works, creates a non embryo stem cell line as creating a damaged life. Perhaps Rick Weiss, the Washington Post reporter of the story, should have also mentioned that Green is the head of the Advanced Cell Technology “ethics board.” Why is that important? ACT wants to make a fortune creating cloned human embryos for use in medical treatments. Finding a way to create the cells without cloning would destroy ACT’s hopes.

And Senator Tom Harkin calling a the creation of a non embryo Frankenstein but okaying the destruction of real embryos? Bizarre.