That seems to be the question our politicians want answered. A story released by news-journal.com reported a proposed bill passed by the Health and Human Services Committee, which means it will now go before the entire Senate for final approval. What is the bill? The bill would simply require all research being conducted in the stem cell arena and any funding associated with that research to be reported to the Senate at the conclusion of each year.

I am not going to address the politics of whether this is right or not because my blog isn’t a political blog; however, it will be interesting to see what areas of stem cell research are actually receiving the most funding and in which area most researchers are concentrating. I would venture to guess that more research is being conducted on adult stem cells (iPS) than on embryonic stem cells, but that is something we will have to wait for if/when the government releases that information. The other reason I think this is interesting is because what if the reports reveal that the vast majority of research and funding is on adult stem cells and not in the field of embryonic stem cells. Would the White House then change its stance on embryonic stem cell research? Would the government admit it got it wrong on this matter? Would the government admit that there were better alternatives to embryonic stem cell research and that they have forced upon the American people?