A decision by the Bush administration to reverse the Clinton policy would force stem cell researchers to seek private funding. Opponents of stem cell research were quick to criticize the letter. But Johnson and Doerflinger miss the point. As long as abortions remain legal, they provide an enormous potential source of embryonic cells. Their use does not give an incentive for abortion, and it's absurd for anti-abortion activists to think anyone would encourage abortion solely to obtain embryonic cells.
Animal research is also under fire again.
On September 28, the US Department of Agriculture recently settled out of court with an animal rights group called the Alternatives Research and Development Foundation to change the status of mice, rats, and birds under its animal care regulations. These animals will no longer be excluded from regulations that cover primates, dogs, cats, and other animals, and their use in research will require extensive record keeping. Requiring daily documentation of the number and use of these animals would divert large amounts of money from the research itself and discourage the use of these animals. But that only delays implementation of the new guidelines for 1 year, and settling out of court with the ARDF only means that the arguments against the changes will never be heard in court. A concerted effort by all who use these animals for research, including academic medical centers, the NIH, the US Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must be mounted to counter the actions of the animal rights movement which will continue relentlessly to use all means to stop animal research.