Frist, Do No Harm.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)

Bioethics: Sen. Bill Frist's abandonment of the Bush position on embryonic stem cell research comes as a result of no advances in the medical science. The only thing being advanced is Frist's political ambition.

You can already see the editorials in the mainstream media about how much Frist has "grown" in office. That usually happens when conservatives abandon their positions -- or when Senate majority leaders abandon their president.

Frist wants to be president. So does John Kerry. Frist believes life begins at conception. So does Kerry. But Kerry is a lawyer and is perhaps expected to be a bit slippery in his views. Frist is a physician, a heart-surgeon schooled in medical science. But the science in this case doesn't justify his endorsement of legislation providing federal funding of embryonic stem cell research -- legislation President Bush has promised to veto.

Frist feels Bush's restrictions on federal funding of such research could "slow our ability to bring potential new treatments for certain diseases." Sounds like Kerry talking about Bush's "ban" on research. But such research has been amply funded; it's just that there's not much to show for it.

Since 1998, when researchers at the University of Wisconsin discovered how to isolate and develop human embryonic stem cells, no human disease or condition has been successfully treated with them. By contrast, nearly 80 therapies -- actual treatments, not ...