Will Mass. Taxpayers Pay $80 Million to Kill Embryos for Stem Cell Research?
        $80 million for life science technology that will include stem cell research was part of the  $437 million economic stimulus bill sent to Gov. Mitt Romney's desk last Thursday afternoon. It is full of taxpayer-funded investments designed to “grow jobs”.
        "It's a good day for us," said Thomas Finneran, who left his job as House Speaker in 2004 to make $400,000 a year by lobbying for the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council to use embryos for stem cell research.
        Finneran took his new job immediately after retiring as House speaker. During his tenure in the House he was against using human embryos for stem call research and he was against gay marriage, but he suddenly changed on both issues.
        He began convincing his former colleagues that there’s nothing morally wrong with cloning human embryos just to destroy them. In the current session, Finneran has made sure that embryonic stem cell research is a front-burner issue. ( CLICK HERE). 
        Opponents of embryonic stem cell research point out that despite all the hype and promises, no cures have actually been effected by embryonic stem cells anywhere.  The most prominent stem cell researcher in the world,  Hwang Woo-suk of South Korea recently conceded that all of his research in the field was fraudulent.  Rather, adult stem cells, harvested without having to destroy an embryo,  have shown the most promise. 
        Many others are wondering why the research in this field needs public financing at all.  If the promise of cures to the most debilitating diseases and conditions are expected to be realized through embryonic stem cell research, isn’t it likely that there would be hundreds of millions of dollars readily available from pharmaceutical companies and other private investors?
         Harvard University, for example, just two weeks ago began a cloning program with Children’s Hospital in Boston.  They were able to bypass federal regulation on cloning because they are using private money for their research.