09 January 2007

Swiss researchers make do

Did anyone notice that part of the news about amniotic stem cells was from Switzerland?

"Swiss scientists Dorthe Schmidt and Simon Hoerstrup of University Hospital Zurich have used amniotic stem cells to grow heart valves. They are currently testing them in sheep."

How on earth did that happen? I thought that the crippling effects of European single-payer healthcare, especially all that bargaining with big pharmaceutical companies, precluded European advances in medicine.

2 comments:

Emily DeVoto, Ph.D., said...

Ha! Excellent. Not to mention the fact the US is blowing too much money on research in the rest of the world, thus exporting innovation and (somehow) driving up our own health care costs, according to economist Tyler Cowen. At least we get to keep the Nobel prize winners... More thoughts here: http://health-counterspin.blogspot.com/2006/10/nobels-new-measure-of-health-care.html

Kristen Marie Hannum said...

Emily --
Good point. You did a good job with that article.
And even more of the argument seems to fall apart once you consider the role that government funding plays in research.
Which is CENTRAL to the entire business with embryonic stem cells, isn't it? I mean, a researcher can do all the research she wants on embryonic stem cells, just not with federal dollars.