Boston Hearld editorial -- Stem cell use `ban' another Kerry myth

Wow, even a liberal paper like the Boston Herald knows what Kerry is all about. It seems to me that the truth is relative when it comes to Kerry. It's scarry what to think that this man could be president.

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By Boston Herald editorial staff
Wednesday, October 6, 2004

There he goes again! John Kerry just can't seem to keep from misstating the facts, especially if it bolsters his bid for the presidency and besmirches the Bush record at the same time.
The latest case in point is Kerry's insistence that President Bush has implemented a ``ban'' on stem cell research. This is the way Kerry put it during a speech in Hampton, N.H., Monday:
``The hard truth is that when it comes to stem cell research, our president is sacrificing science for ideology and playing politics with people who need cures. Right now, some of the most pioneering treatments could be right at our fingertips - but because of the stem cell ban, [emphasis ours] they remain beyond our reach.''
That would likely come as a huge surprise to those hundreds of dedicated scientists currently engaged in just such pioneering work today, using public and private money.
[bold] Is there no lie John Kerry won't tell in order to be elected?[/bold]
The truth is, of course, that research involving adult stem cells - which have already proven very valuable in treating a variety of diseases - proceeds apace unimpeded by any restrictions on federal research dollars.
But on Aug. 9, 2001, [bold]George Bush became the first U.S. president to authorize any federal funds for the somewhat more controversial embryonic stem cell research, creating a $25 million pool for research grants. [/bold]It was admittedly a compromise, authorizing that grants go to projects that use only the 64 stem cell lines that existed at the time - of which only 21 are currently available for use.
The restriction - not a ban - applied only to the use of federal money. There are no such restrictions on privately funded research or on the use of state funds. In fact, California voters will be asked on election day if they would approve $3 million for such research.
Kerry would up the federal dollars for stem cell research to $100 million (there's not a problem he wouldn't cure with more federal money), although the figure for privately funded research is already more than double that amount.
[bold]Truth has once again become a casualty of the Kerry campaign. [/bold]

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