Two Stories Related to Wrongheaded Federal Policies

Two stories in the Washington Post's Metro section today illustrate policies that seem to me antithetical to the position I take in this blog:

"Duncan Sues FDA Over Canadian Drugs" by Tim Craig

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is supposed to protect the citizens of this country against dangers from pharmaceutical products. But I don't think there is any danger to the public from drugs approved for sale in Canada! Indeed many of the drugs that would be imported are in fact produced in the United States. I hope that the FDA is not suggesting that the pharmaceutical industry is, with its permission, producing drugs for the Canadian market that would not be acceptable for U.S. citizens to use. I suspect doublespeak, and the health being protected is that of industrial balance sheets rather than patients.

"Compromise Predicted in Md. On Stem Cell Research Funds: Amended Legislation Similar to Approach by Ehrlich" by John Wagner

Legislation is pending before the Maryland state legislature to "authorize state money not only for embryonic stem cell research, which many conservative lawmakers oppose, but also for less controversial work on adult cells."

Stem cell research not only offers important scientific information, but eventually important medical advances. The research community has been hindered in the United States from vigorous exploration of this field by an irrational ruling by the Federal Government.

There are currently 400,000 frozen embryos in the United States, many of which are destroyed every year when their donors decide they are no longer needed for their own fertility enhancement treatment. It would not be at all unethical to divert some of these into biomedical research rather than simply destroying them, especially if by so doing we could eventually improve lives and avert unnecessary deaths.

Maryland could do well while doing good if the legislature were to pass this bill. Maryland is fortunate to be a world leader in biomedical research, in large part due to hosting Johns Hopkins University and the National Institutes of Health. Basic biomedical research requires seed money, and this legislation could provide it to local researchers while the misguided Federal policy denies such funding to others. Given a head start, Maryland researchers will soon reap commercial advantage for the State from their stem cell research!

California and other countries have seen the opportunity and have grasped it!