Michael J. Fox and Stem Cell Research

Michael J. Fox made big headlines this week after the actor took a shaky stand against Republicans in a commercial that ran during the World Series. He claimed that only Democrats wielding power in washington could provide hope for his future by curing his disease.

The real issue is not whether or not Embryonic Stem Cell Research is banned in any state, much less Missouri, but whether or not it will be federally funded. Some embryonic stem cell research is currently federally funded, providing it meets criteria as laid out by the law. But States and universities are going full bore with researching ESC’s, but they do so with private funding.

For all of the real facts surrounding stem cells, both embryonic and adult, see the National Institute of Health’s page here.

Ethical questions remain about the treatment of human embryos, and as long as those questions remain unresolved, the Feds should not finance it. They are not financing cloning, either, nor are they financing the harvesting of organs.

So how could Michael J Fox take such a controversial stand on Embryonic Stem Cell Research? That’s easy. Democrats asked him to and Michael J. Fox shook on it.