Word: cell
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Princeton University and the former head of Merck Vaccines, the company that created the most promising HIV-vaccine candidate to date, which ultimately failed in clinical trials in 2007. (That drug, V520, used a common-cold virus to ferry three synthetic HIV genes into the body to trigger cell-mediated immunity. It was tested in several thousand people, but failed to provide immunity.) "We need to go back to an understanding of the virus and what is susceptible to our immune response. We [as a field] basically glossed over that in our rush to get a vaccine." (See pictures...
...However, the pro-stem cell contingent is also guilty of overblown rhetoric, not only for labeling the decision as a godsend but also for being too cavalier about procedures with legitimate ethical concerns. Stem cell advocates often make their case on the research’s life-saving potential, stressing the merit of destroying a five-day-old embryo to save a five-year-old girl. But this is an unfair comparison. Yes, the number of available stem cell lines will hopefully reach somewhere in the hundreds, but it will be 120 days before the NIH will even come...
...Furthermore, the pro-research camp often goes too far in disregarding the significance of embryos as the origins of human life. A recent Crimson editorial (“Cell-ebration,” March 10) used highly misleading language in calling embryos “merely a collection of cells.” Embryos are a far cry from a toddler, but we should exercise caution about starting down the path toward sacrificing human life simply to harvest components for experiments...
...However, far more important than the stem cell decision was Obama’s memorandum to ensure openness about science and protect scientists, released at the same time. This marks a far greater departure from the Bush administration and cuts to the heart of the debate on many issues, such as conservation and global warming, in discounting the “false choice between science and moral values.” As I pointed out in an earlier column, the Bush administration was often directly antagonistic to concerns of scientists, allegedly editing releases about global warming, silencing a top climatologist...
...with the president’s policies. Obama has already made good on this promise by issuing a memorandum that will restore a provision of the Endangered Species Act that requires federal agencies to consult the Fish and Wildlife Service before taking action on endangered species. Hopefully, the stem cell decision will be seen not as the end of morality in science policy, but as the beginning of an era where science is again taken seriously by the federal government...