Columnist Ken Blackwell, a Senior Fellow at the Family Research Council, objects to federal, state and local laws that “turn the American taxpayer into an unwitting or unwilling investor,” citing the U.S. Senate’s bill to provide federal funding for research involving human embryonic stem cells. Interestingly, he bases his argument on economics, not  ethics:

[T]he heart of the issue is whether taxpayer dollars should be funneled to these scientific enterprises. Since his national address on August 9, 2001, when President Bush announced that the government would provide stem cells for research using cell lines that were already in existence as of that date, researchers around the country have had access to embryonic stem cells but no federal financial incentive to kill more embryos for their experiments. President Bush drew a morally significant line in the sand that day, but he drew an economically significant one as well.

In a vibrant free market economy like that of the United States, the government is tempted to fund only marginal and fringe business propositions because the ones that have real prospects for success don't generally lack for capital. Think about it for a moment: if a research group in the United States really were just years away from a cure for a malady like juvenile diabetes, would it have any difficulty, given the number of prospective beneficiaries, in raising the venture capital it needed to solve the problem?

Instead, what we see is a parade of efforts to pay for these experiments from the public purse. …

In the meantime, adult stem cell research and therapies (there are no human therapies available today based on embryonic stem cells, nor even any animal trials involving such therapies) are racing ahead and attracting both private and, in a few cases, some public funding. More than 70 human conditions have been treated using adult stem cell-based approaches, with word just this week from the United Kingdom that researchers there have been able to grow replacement heart valves in the laboratory. Animal trials are next, and if they succeed, these fully human, manufactured valves could be ready for patients in three to five years.

And Rep. Dave Weldon, M.D. (R-FL), a physician, points out something very interesting about the preliminary study published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association demonstrating that transfusions of a type 1 diabetic’s own stem cells can restore the body’s ability to produce insulin on its own - the scientists had to conduct their research abroad. In a statement, Weldon says: 

"It's very important that the public be told what this is: an adult stem cell success, not the much touted embryo stem cell research. Also, one of the first things I noticed was that this research was done by Americans overseas. Why? Because much of the American biomedical research community has placed an irrational reliance on embryo stem cell research above all others. Adult stem cell science in America is being crowded out and in some cases ignored. This bias is now denying American patients access to therapies that are much more promising. We need to focus on human treatments for today, not those with false hope for tomorrow." …

"The beauty of the treatment protocol used here is that the patient's own bone marrow stem cells were used, guaranteeing a perfect match. There was no controversial destruction of human embryos. Embryo stem cells form tumors and have never been shown to be safe for use in humans.” 

WA State Rule: Druggists Cannot Refuse To Fill Plan B Prescriptions

The Washington State Board of Pharmacy has passed a rule that obligates pharmacists to dispense "morning-after" emergency contraception, even if they are against abortion and believe the high-dose birth control pills are a means of terminating a pregnancy in its earliest stages (second item, The Daily Blade, April 4, 2007). Drug stores and their employees could be subject to disciplinary action by the board – including revocation of state licenses – if for failure to comply. Plan B, which can lower the risk of pregnancy up to s 89 percent if taken no later than 72 hours after unprotected sex, has been available over the counter to adults since August 2006. Under the new state rule, which will take effect in mid-June, a pharmacist who personally objects to filling Plan B or any other prescription may ask a co-worker to handle the order in his or her stead – but not if the customer has to come back when the other co-worker is on duty. The Washington State Catholic Conference and Human Life Washington, an anti-abortion group, complain that the state is compelling pharmacists to administer medical treatments that violate their religious and moral beliefs. A lawsuit is likely in the works.

What Freedom Of Speech Means To Muslims (Part II)

A Turkish parliamentary commission has proposed a permanent ban on any Web sites that insult Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, following last month’s two-day court order blocking access to You Tube. Nationalists sought the court order after several videos were posted on You Tube suggesting that Ataturk and the Turkish people are homosexuals.

The move towards increased censorship – it is already a crime punishable by imprisonment to “insult Turkishness” (acknowledging the Armenian Genocide as a historical fact, for example) – puts Turkey at odds with the European Union, which is pushing the 99.8 percent Muslim country to protect freedom of speech.

If Turkey’s parliament approves the proposal, The Stiletto Blog would certainly be blocked because of this post, and this one and this one (just to cite a few).

In another example of Turkey’s relentless attempts to excise all mention of the Armenian Genocide – and not just in their own history texts – a U.N. exhibit organized by the British antigenocide group Aegis Trust on the 13th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda was postponed after the Turkish government objected to a single sentence in which the genesis of the word genocide is explained:  "Following World War One, during which 1 million Armenians were murdered in Turkey, Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin urged the League of Nations to recognize crimes of barbarity as international crimes." Reuters reports that David Browan, communications director for Aegis said that Armenian diplomats agreed to the removal of the words "in Turkey," which was acceptable to his group. But he said, "We understand that was not acceptable to the U.N."

In an editorial about what it terms a “cover up,” The New York Times takes both Turkey and a “craven” U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to task

More than 90 years ago … Turkish nationalists launched an extermination campaign there that killed 1.5 million Armenians. It was the 20th century’s first genocide. The world noticed, but did nothing, setting an example that surely emboldened such later practitioners as Hitler, the Hutu leaders of Rwanda in 1994 and today’s Sudanese president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

Turkey has long tried to deny the Armenian genocide. … [U]sing the word genocide … is prosecuted as a serious crime. Which makes it all the more disgraceful that United Nations officials are bowing to Turkey’s demands and blocking this week’s scheduled opening of an exhibit at U.N. headquarters commemorating the 13th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide because it mentions the mass murder of the Armenians. …

It’s odd that Turkey’s leaders have not figured out by now that every time they try to censor discussion of the Armenian genocide, they only bring wider attention to the subject … As for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his inexperienced new leadership team, they have once again shown how much they have to learn if they are to honorably and effectively serve the United Nations, which is supposed to be the embodiment of international law and a leading voice against genocide.