After lifting what the mainstream media calls the "ban" on embryonic stem cell research (the ban was solely on its federal funding), President Obama brazenly sermonized against scientifically challenged opponents of this Orwellian research.

Over the past decade or so, success stories with adult (non-embryonic) stem cells are coming in almost too fast to track. The research during that time has provided more than 70 (some even say 100) different therapeutic therapies that utilize adult stem cells. In stark contrast, no cure have materialized using embryonic stem cells. Zilch! It is, therefore, totally disingenuous of Obama to claim his decision is based on sound science and a victory over politics. The facts contradict his rhetoric.

Additional research will point out the quasi-insurmountable biological drawbacks of embryonic stem cells. Besides the obvious natural rejection problem, all they've yielded are tumours, mutations and horrifying non-treatable side effects when used directly in trials.

What bothers me as much as the idea of carving up those unborn babies and recycling them like compost material - and, moreover, have taxpayer dollars to do it! - is not only that human lives will be cannibalized but that these human lives are, collectively, the next generation. This is not just living tissue President Obama's talking about consuming: they are our young, our "embryonic children"!

We've spent the past 40 years or so perfecting the art of non-thinking about abortion. This president now appears to be reapplying the techniques learned to stem cell bioethics.

THADDÉE RENAULT