Psychology

President Bush Vetoes Stem Cell Bill

 

One of the challenges of modern living is the need to make ethical decisions about emerging technologies. In many cases, the technology is up and running long before we figure out how best to use it.

The stem cell bill that President Bush just vetoed would have allowed the National Institutes of Health to fund research using stem cell lines developed after 2001. Is that sufficiently confusing?

Let’s back up a bit. First of all, a stem cell is an undifferentiated cell that can divide and differentiate into other cell types. Consequently, researchers are very excited about the potential of growing replacement cells for damaged tissues, such as in cases of spinal cord damage.

Not all stem cells are equal. There are three main sources today for stem cells–adult stem cells, cord blood stem cells, and embryonic stem cells. It is the latter type that is controversial. These are harvested from the blastocyst stage of the embryo, about 5 days following conception.

In 2001, President Bush signed legislation that would provide federal funds for research using stem cell lines already in existence, since these embryos had already been destroyed, but would not fund research requiring the destruction of additional embryos. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded 607 million dollars of stem cell research in 2005.

Some researchers argue that this is unnecessarily restrictive, and that their research is hindered by the inability to study new cell lines. (more…)

By Laura Freberg, ago

Breakdown of textbook prices….

 

I was cruising around R. Kennedy’s website after he commented on my textbook pricing post, and found lots of interesting stuff. I especially liked the link to the Consumption Rules blog, where the following breakdown for textbook pricing was discussed:

  • 32.3% — Publisher’s paper, printing, and editorial costs
  • 15.4% — Publisher’s Marketing Costs
  • 11.6% — Author Income (that’s about 2 cents per hour, I think)
  • 10.9% — College Store Personnel
  • 10% — Publisher’s General and Administrative Expenses
  • 7% — Publisher’s Income (after tax)
  • 6.8% — College Store Operations
  • 4.9% — College Store Income (pre-tax)
  • 1.1% — Freight Expenses

Consumption Rules says the data come from the National Association of College Stores. Of course, this only works for brand new books. Once the bookstore buys the book back from students, usually at a very reduced price, they resell at nearly new costs. This saves the bookstore all of those nasty costs that start with “publisher” or “author.” In other words, the people who produced the work in the first place only get paid the first semester or quarter the book is used. (more…)

By Laura Freberg, ago