Government scientists will no longer conduct research using fetal tissue, the Trump administration said Wednesday, granting the wishes of anti-abortion groups and overruling the concerns of scientists.
The Department of Health and Human Services said it has discontinued all internal research that involves fetal tissue, which is obtained through elective abortions. External fetal-tissue projects that receive government funding will continue, but any grant application that is either new or up for renewal will require the approval of an ethics advisory board, the department said in a statement.
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With all my respect to President Trump who is doing excellent job in many other areas, I think this is one of most unintelligent decisions of the administration which puts religious and ethical believes of one group of people above the health and well-being of millions of others. Fetus material will always exist as a by-product of abortions while abortions are not fully banned. This means that the most valuable material for research will be just thrown away. As to full ban on abortions – I do not believe this will ever happen, as this will be the most unethical decision for millions of women.
We do not need science, we have a president who has all the answers. He follows a hallowed tradition, from the Pope who had Galileo publicly withdraw support of Copernican cosmology, through Stalin’s embrace of Lysenko, down to other 20th century “strong heads of state” who substituted their ideology for science. Build walls, not universities.
I doubt that this is his decision. I am pretty sure he had to go along with his hard-liner voters just because he needed their support. This is very unfortunate and hurts both science and health, however in the present political environment he does not have much choice. Too bad for all of us.
“Personhood at conception.” Probably coming soon via the increasingly stacked Judiciary, and in a way that may well effectively nullify the 14th Amendment for pregnant women and end Roe v. Wade (whether explicitly or functionally). My 2 cents:
https://bgladd.blogspot.com/2008/04/diploid-dave-zelinda-zygote.html
So the progress is stunned because of a few people who don’t understand what we are dealing with. Again…
Fetal tissue is essential for various important life-saving research for the greater good of human health. It should not be banned as research material – as long as there is no “profit” in the procurement. Even those dead-set against abortion should open their eyes – and compare the fetal tissue donation to organ donation. The death of a fetus then becomes equally meaningful.
I guess our president only cares about fetuses and living people in the US, as long as they are white males.He certainly doesn’t care about women or anybody who has a different skin color-even though he appears orange.
This is not true and not very smart.
That is point when the ignorance of large groups can be obstacle for the science