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Yakk · 10-24-2006, 10:56 AM

There is a ban against using federal funds to do embriotic stem cell research.

Now, on the face of this, it doesn't seem to be that huge of a ban.

But you have to remember something. Not one penny.

Not one penny of federal funds, from the past or the present, could have been used in any equipment, buildings, administration, or salaries. If the building was made 20 years ago, paid for from a fund that got 1% of it's input from Federal funding -- you can't do any stem cell research in that building.

Even if it is just one penny of Federal funding that went into the building, using it for stem cell research is illegal.

So, either you have to do a huge accounting backtracking check to find and guarantee a research building is federal-funding free, from now and back to the beginning of time, and then sequester it off from the main revenue of the research institution (to prevent it from being contaminated with Federal funds), or you have to build a completely seperate and sequestered research institution and avoid contaminating it with Federal funds.

Don't get me wrong -- this is being done. There are US universities that refuse Federal funding, and I believe there has been some attempts in California to build stem cell research buildings.

But the Federal ban on stem cell research isn't just "the Fed's won't earmark any funds for Stem Cell research" -- it means that anyone who ever accepted Federal money is retroactively constrained (to a greater or lesser extent) in what they can do.

...

I was actually under the impression, after doing some research, that M.J.F.'s rocking behaviour during that add was a side effect of a drug that helps him speak more clearly. (the claim is that without his meds, at the current time, MJF cannot effectively speak)

The drug kills the small-scale tremours, and allows speech -- but it causes a significant low-frequency rocking motion.

10-24-2006, 10:56 AM	#24 (permalink)
Yakk Wehret Den Anfängen! Location: Ontario, Canada	There is a ban against using federal funds to do embriotic stem cell research. Now, on the face of this, it doesn't seem to be that huge of a ban. But you have to remember something. Not one penny. Not one penny of federal funds, from the past or the present, could have been used in any equipment, buildings, administration, or salaries. If the building was made 20 years ago, paid for from a fund that got 1% of it's input from Federal funding -- you can't do any stem cell research in that building. Even if it is just one penny of Federal funding that went into the building, using it for stem cell research is illegal. So, either you have to do a huge accounting backtracking check to find and guarantee a research building is federal-funding free, from now and back to the beginning of time, and then sequester it off from the main revenue of the research institution (to prevent it from being contaminated with Federal funds), or you have to build a completely seperate and sequestered research institution and avoid contaminating it with Federal funds. Don't get me wrong -- this is being done. There are US universities that refuse Federal funding, and I believe there has been some attempts in California to build stem cell research buildings. But the Federal ban on stem cell research isn't just "the Fed's won't earmark any funds for Stem Cell research" -- it means that anyone who ever accepted Federal money is retroactively constrained (to a greater or lesser extent) in what they can do. ... I was actually under the impression, after doing some research, that M.J.F.'s rocking behaviour during that add was a side effect of a drug that helps him speak more clearly. (the claim is that without his meds, at the current time, MJF cannot effectively speak) The drug kills the small-scale tremours, and allows speech -- but it causes a significant low-frequency rocking motion. __________________ Last edited by JHVH : 10-29-4004 BC at 09:00 PM. Reason: Time for a rest.