Biopolis
You can’t buy Wrigley’s Spearmint gum in Singapore. But human embryonic stem cells? That’s a different matter.
Last month a local business, ES Cell International, claimed to be the first company to produce human embryonic stem cell lines commercially in a way that made them suitable for clinical tests. Researchers can buy vials of stem cells online from ES Cell for $6,000 each.
Lately the tiny island state’s ambition of joining the ranks of Boston and the San Francisco Bay Area as a biotechnology hub has been getting a hand from an unexpected quarter: the White House. Bush administration policies that restrict U.S. government money for stem cell research have prompted an increasing number of top scientists to pack their bags and head for this equatorial city.
We’ve discussed this a couple of times, lately — here and here, for example.
Two of the most prominent American cancer researchers, Neal Copeland and Nancy Jenkins, are planning to arrive here next month to take posts at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Singapore. The husband and wife team, who worked for 20 years at the National Cancer Institute in Maryland, said politics and budget cuts had left financing in the United States too hard to come by.
“We wanted to be in a place where they are excited by science and things are moving upward,” Copeland said.
The centerpiece of Singapore’s biotechnology effort is the 500 million dollar Biopolis – a seven-building biomedical hive that opened in late 2003. It is outfitted with the latest high-technology equipment and features a bar, a day care center and an underground facility designed to house a quarter-million laboratory mice.
The authorities are now building a stem cell bank at Biopolis, which will be able to count on some of the world’s most liberal laws on human embryonic cell use. Researchers hope that stem cells, the all-purpose building blocks that eventually turn into specific tissue like bone, muscle or nerves, can be harnessed and used to treat injuries or medical defects. Scientists have found that stem cells from embryos have a greater flexibility and shelf life than those in adults.
Here we are — an assembly of experience within a class of technology founded on enabling the sharing of information. And we’re confronted with a government that stands above us all and says research is immoral and, therefore, illegal. Who would be surprised when folks with dedicated careers leave for better opportunities?
I guess we’re supposed to accept this as a new kind of Foreign Aid?
If it doesn’t kill more people faster and easier the U.S. Governemtn isn’t interested. If it was for new tools of war I would call our president a Luddite.
“…policies that restrict U.S. government money …”
I.e. They are NOT banned and this is a rare moment where the government isn’t providing corporate welfare. We need more of this behavior (no public money for private companies), not less!
Go buy ’em yourself if you think they’re so friggin’ great.
When will you morons realize that not providing funding is different than a ban?
Stem cells aren’t going to help you regain the intelligence you’ve clearly lost, after all.
So, I guess corporate wellfare is fine for the defense industry? When will you morons learn there is more to National Security than arms? If we don’t have a strong economy it weakens our National Security. If you are going to defund federal research do it for everybody not just stem cells.
Look guys. I’m pro-choice and pro stem cell research. BUT there are a whole bunch of people in this country that really truly feel that creating embryos to destroy is absolutely NO different than walking through the park, picking up babies and hitting them in the head with a bat.
Most of those people voted for GW. What the hell do you expect him to do? I for one expected him to ban stem cell research out right but he didn’t. He took a moderate path and just banned the FEDERAL funding of such research.
A lot of medical research is done in this country without federal funding. Why is it that Stem Cell research can’t be?
Apples and oranges, Improbus. While I don’t like what’s going on in the defense industry, I do see a strong defense industry as more important to our country’s short term health than stem cell research.
I’d like to see all corporate wellfare go away, but not at the sake of our defense (as poorly mismanaged as it is).
#6, James, Now that is just rubbish. Corporate Welfare is the same whether it is supporting the Defense sector or the education, health, or transportation sectors. The money is going to a few select companies in bed with the politicians.
Things done for the short term almost always are detrimental in the long term.
Fusion, clearly there are at least a few people who disagree with that point of view, since they’re against public funding of stem cell research but not trying to go all the way with a full blown ban.
Likewise, to say that all corporate welfare is the same can’t be backed up. By not funding stem cell research the government is saying that they don’t feel like their help is needed to improve lifespan, but by funding defense they’re saying our security does need a boost.
While I’d love to see a free market properly fund each on its own, the system isn’t setup to make that happen. That means the system needs change, but not at the expense of our security.