Trump's coronavirus "cure," which he wants to provide free to any patient who needs it, was developed via stem cell research – a practice the Trump administration opposes as “one of the very top priorities.”
October 9, 2020

Trump's coronavirus "cure," which he wants to provide free to any patient who needs it, was developed via stem cell research – a practice the Trump administration opposes as “one of the very top priorities.”

The New York Times explains:

The antibody cocktail for Covid-19 that President Trump touted on Wednesday afternoon was developed with cells originally derived from fetal tissue, a practice that his administration has moved to restrict.
In June 2019, the Trump administration suspended federal funding for most new scientific research involving fetal tissue derived from abortions.

“Promoting the dignity of human life from conception to natural death is one of the very top priorities of President Trump’s administration,” the Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement in 2019, around the time of the ban.

Mr. Trump last week received Regeneron’s cocktail of monoclonal antibodies — essentially, antibodies synthesized in living cells and administered to help the body fight off the infection.

To develop the antibodies, Regeneron relied on 293T, a cell line derived from the kidney tissue of an aborted fetus in the 1970s. At least two companies racing to produce vaccines against the coronavirus, Moderna and AstraZeneca, also are using the cell line.

Remdesivir, an antiviral drug Mr. Trump received, also was tested using these cells.

This is yet one more example of Trump’s hypocrisy about the “dignity of human life.” He’s not just the guy who refused to answer when asked if he was ever involved with a woman who had had an abortion. He also shrugged off the then-100,000 (now 200,000+) American deaths from COVID by saying, “it is what it is” and he continues to reject safety and health procedures to protect those around him.

But for the rest of us who may be suffering from life-threatening diseases that he doesn’t have, stem cell research is a no-no. In August, the Times reported that Trump’s Human Fetal Tissue Research Ethics Advisory Board rejected 13 of 14 research proposals. The Trump administration suspended federal funding for most fetal tissue research in June of last year. That’s despite the fact that scientists have said it could be useful in treating a range of diseases, including Parkinson’s disease, diabetes and H.I.V./AIDS

Trump and his GOP pals just can’t wait to install Amy Coney Barrett on the Supreme Court in order to destroy a woman’s right to safe and legal abortion. Think any of those pals will say a peep about Dear Leader taking drugs based on stem cell research? Nah, me neither. But the rest of us can.

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