Froma Harrop doesn't understand Obama's stem cell policy

Columnist Froma Harrop's latest column shows us that she doesn't seem to understand the difference between Obama's embryonic stem cell policy and the proposed NIH guidelines, thinks he should be spending federal funds on non-existent stem cells created by killing cloned human embryos and doesn't understand what biology and religion can teach us.

Foes of embryonic stem-cell research hold that embryos are full human beings. Supporters say that these 6-day-old clusters of cells are not human beings. This is a religious, not a scientific, debate....

Evidence for why whether an organism is a human being or not is strictly a religious question is never given. Harrop's all about making nonsensical assertions and leaving them to fend for themselves.

The only difference between embryos in fertility clinics and the ones cloned for research is the motive of the people who created them. Creating embryos to help couples have children would seem a worthy enterprise — but so too is creating embryos to seek cures for horrible diseases.

So much for that "they're going to be destroyed anyway argument," huh?

Obama’s timidity in rewriting the guidelines has slowed down important research and produced more confusion. And for Americans praying for cures from this science, the choice seems rather clear.

Here's where Harrop's ignorance shines through. Somehow Obama has slowed down research on embryonic stem cell lines from cloned human embryos even though scientists have yet to create embryonic stem cell lines from cloned human embryos and even though his executive order did nothing to prevent the funding of research on these cells which don't yet exist.

And to top it all, Harrop includes the grand-daddy of embarassingly ignorant assertions that some proponents of killing human embryos for their stem cells make: embryonic stem cell research may cure Alzheimer's.

Apparently, Harrop believes in fairy tales so much, she can't take the time to do a simple google search.