Stem Cell Research: No Panacea, But It's a Start

President Barack Obama repudiated eight years of Bush-era ostrich-like behavior with the stroke of the pen Monday, signing an executive order expanding government funding of embryonic stem cell research.

This decision will jumpstart potential breakthroughs into the treatment of--and possibly cures for--types of cancer, Parkinson's and other diseases. Human cloning, we should tell you, is not included.

So why are there still those who oppose this life-saving initiative? Because those stem cells, they say, are coming from the tissue of dead fetuses.

Not surprisingly, these are the same people who have made it difficult for women who, for circumstances known only to them, need to have a legal procedure to terminate their pregnancies.

They believe life begins at conception. If that were true, we wouldn't be celebrating birthdays. Instead, we'd have Conception Days, held nine months earlier, to commemorate the day Mommy and Daddy "forgot" to wear protection at a motel someplace. Sounds awkward, doesn't it?

These people are opposed to abortion and birth control, and they are entitled to their opinion. Are they willing to sacrifice the health and well-being of millions, even their own families, for the sake of fetuses that might never grow to full term?

On the other hand, billions have been spent over the past half century on medical research. What happened? Where did all that money go? Did the pharmaceutical and insurance companies somehow get involved and slow down progress? Heaven forbid they should ever discover a cure, because that would be bad for business. Even if there is one, few people would be able to afford the cost of treatments. And you wonder why we have a health care crisis?

There are many medical breakthroughs waiting to be discovered through stem cell research that could someday make our lives better. Let's not let ideologues and big money interests make the cure worse than the disease.