Quote:
Originally posted by Gattigap
I thought the issue was that by refusing federal funding, it effectively shuts down scientific research in the area, because basic research is systemically dependent upon the presence of such funding, at least in part. My understanding was that if there's no federal involvement, it just doesn't happen. This ain't NPR, where you can easily cover the problem by selling more bookbags and coffee cups.
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Basically, you have to get private funding and set up a separate institute that doesn't get federal funds. I understand that Harvard has set up a
Harvard Stem Cell Institute to try and work around the problem. Of course, the irony is that without federal funding, Institutional Review Board oversight of the research is not mandated for the research to go forward. I would rather have the research go on in a federally funded institution with IRB oversight than some private lab, with no one looking into the ethics issues of experimenting on human subjects.
I know one researcher who flies to Brazil at least twice a month to conduct his research on coronary artery disease. His embryonic research here is with dogs, though he has a list of donors who would be happy to contribute to research here in the US.
