WATCHING THE WORLD GO BY
It's a startling coincidence to see two headlines on an insanely important subject for human-kind, on the same day, representing the opposite ends of a scientific and ethical tug-of-war in this country and abroad.
From the New York Times (subscription required), we have this headline and introduction by Gina Kolata:
South Koreans Streamline Cloning of Human Embryos
In what scientists say is a stunning leap forward, a team of South Korean researchers has developed a highly efficient recipe for producing human embryos by cloning and then extracting their stem cells.
Writing today in the journal Science, they report that they used their method to produce 11 human stem cells lines that are genetic matches of patients aged 2 to 56.
Previously, the same group, led by Dr. Woo Suk Hwang and Dr. Shin Yong Moon of Seoul National University, produced a single stem cell line from a cloned embryo, but the process was so onerous that scientists said it was not worth trying to repeat it, and some doubted the South Koreans' report was even correct.
Now things have changed.
"It is a tremendous advance," said Dr. Leonard Zon, a stem cell researcher at Harvard Medical School and president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, who was not involved in the research.
Then, you have this other story in Slate, titled "Clone of Silence, Stem cells, loaded words and the New York Times", by William Saletan. It's focus is on the interpretation and semantics of "cloning stem cell research" by politicians and various US newspapers that are covering this important story, trying to dance around knotted constituencies, and discussed in mind-numbing and banal detail...e.g., the article starts:
Last week, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney proposed four amendments to a bill supporting stem cell research. The Boston Globe headlined the story, "Romney urges changes to stem cell bill—Adds amendment to prohibit cloning." The Globe's fourth paragraph explained, "The governor has echoed the hopes of many that stem cell research may one day find treatments for diseases, and he shares the conviction that the research is important to the state … But the governor has split with a large majority in the Legislature over cloning human cells." If you read the Globe, you get the impression Romney supports stem cell research but opposes cloning.
That isn't the impression you get if you read the New York Times. The Times' report on the same proposal never mentioned cloning. "New Limits Are Proposed for Research on Stem Cells," said the headline. The lede paragraph explained only that Romney proposed "excluding a type of embryonic stem cell research" (ESCR). The story never mentioned that Romney supported ESCR apart from cloning.
It's a story that would make Bill Clinton of the definition of "is" fame, proud.
If there ever was an illustration of the action speaking louder than words, this story of two stories in two parts of the world is it.
Comments