Support fades for stem-cell ban

By KIT WAGAR The Kansas City Star

JEFFERSON CITY — The long-awaited Senate debate over whether to ban certain types of stem-cell research in Missouri was supposed to be an epic struggle between science and morality.

Instead, support for the ban slowly melted away Wednesday during five hours of debate featuring powerful arguments about stem-cell science, the potential for life-changing cures and the sweeping nature of the ban.

Even Missouri Right to Life, which had launched an aggressive lobbying campaign to support the ban, was taken aback by the intensity of the opposition that grew as debate wore on. Pam Fichter, the group's president, said senators who signed on to support the bill deserted the bill's sponsor, Republican Sen. Matt Bartle of Lee's Summit.

“With 18 co-sponsors, we thought we were in good shape,” Fichter said. “But Bartle turned out to be the loneliest man in town. Two of the co-sponsors were the ones who spoke against it. Most of them just sat silent.”

Senators involved in the debate said the one-sided debate reflected a growing uneasiness with the absolute nature of the bill. It would prohibit scientists from creating stem cells in a laboratory by defining the procedure as human cloning.

[full text here]

And there's this, too:

Quote of the week: “It astonishes me that everyone wants to do what the French do all of a sudden.”

— Sen. Chuck Graham, a Columbia Democrat, criticizing the argument from two conservatives that Missouri should ban early stem cell research because several European countries have done so.

[excerpted from here, in which you'll also find the same Sen. Bartle opposed in another facet of his one-man moralilty crusade by a member of his own party, from the same district...]

By the way, the Star did a very nice overview article of stem cell experimental technique in Saturday's paper -- and in a lovely piece of irony, they put it on the front page of their weekly Faith section.

On the other hand, I'm not sure what to make of this:

Evolution backers to boycott Kansas hearings

By DIANE CARROLL

The Kansas City Star

It looks as if the coming hearings on the Kansas science standards will be a one-sided event.

Proponents of intelligent design have lined up 23 witnesses — including one from Italy and another from Turkey — to support their point of view.

But scientists who defend evolution apparently are boycotting the hearings, said Alexa Posny, assistant commissioner for the state Department of Education.

As of Thursday, the state's deadline, only one scientist had agreed to testify and his appearance had not been confirmed, she said.

“We have contacted scientists from all over the world,” Posny said. “There isn't anywhere else we can go.”

The hearings, tentatively scheduled for May 5-7 and May 12-14, were set up by the conservative majority on the Kansas Board of Education.

Board members say they want the public to hear more about intelligent design, the theory that some aspects of life and its diversity are the result of planned processes, not chance or necessity.

The president of Kansas Citizens for Science, who had called for the boycott, said he was pleased Thursday to hear it was being honored. Intelligent design is the latest form of creationism, Harry McDonald said, and has no place in a science classroom.

In addition, he said, he thinks board conservatives have made up their minds to support a proposal from the intelligent design side that calls for students to learn about the weaknesses of evolution.

“Intelligent design is not going to get its forum, at least not one in which they can say that scientists participated,” McDonald said. “We have learned too much to continue participating in this charade.”

In a way, it relates to the discussion we've had here more than once (and are sure to have again): whether 'tis better to shout down the pseudo-science trolls, or ignore them. I'm not certain the same answer applies in both cases, nor am I convinced that a boycott of the Kansas hearings by spokespersons for the genuine scientific mainstream is a good idea.

Any comments about that?